


stolen moments

by 88ray_ray88



Category: Atypical (TV 2017), Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Accident, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, F/F, F/M, Gay Messes, Gay Panics, LEFT AND RIGHT, Love you though, Running, according to my comments hehe, apparently the slowest slowburn, atypical season 3, but yes, crackships, izzie and penelope are cousins, literally another one of my crackships, my favs, not sure what yet, park cousins - Freeform, right here, slowburn, slowest slowburn, that is what this is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-01-24 14:03:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21339436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/88ray_ray88/pseuds/88ray_ray88
Summary: Moving in with her cousin was supposed to be temporary.It’ll only be for a few months Penelope, alleged her father.Of course, she should’ve known better than to believe him.The first few days were rough, as she felt completely out of place. Lucky for her, Izzie wasn’t bad company. In fact, they ended up having much more in common than previously assumed. Apparently, the Park apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Having shitty parents ran in both their blood lines.And so, here she was, attending Clayton Preparatory High School, living with her infamous cousin in the one place that made hell feel like a vacation spot.aka the penelope x izzie cousin au you didn't think you needed
Relationships: Casey Gardner & Izzie, Casey Gardner/Izzie, Ethan Machado/Landon Kirby (crackship), Hope Mikaelson & Lizzie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Lizzie Saltzman, I SAID WHAT I SAID BOUT THEM SKSKSKS, Penelope Park & Josie Saltzman, Penelope Park/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 87
Kudos: 317





	1. why don't you keep your hair up?

Penelope didn’t understand people who enjoyed living in suburban areas. 

For most of her life, she only ever lived in populated cities. Traveling from New York City to Los Angeles to Chicago and so forth. Penelope’s only ever really known the city life. Places that were always moving and something was always happening. For her, she could never get bored in those cities (to be fair, she was only ever there for a year to two years, tops). And now, she was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by minivans and trees (very many trees). And she was bored. 

Right now, school was out of session, which meant she couldn’t move into the dorms just yet. She was currently stuck with Izzie, Izzie’s mother, and her three siblings. The only bright side of this situation was that she could focus her time and energy into her writing. She had only a year left until college and that meant that she would have to either go to school for something her parents wanted or show them a viable back-up plan. 

“Trying to look pretty for a run I see,” Penelope quips, watching Izzie stare at herself in the mirror, much longer than usual. Izzie was wearing a long sleeve crop top and bright blue shorts (her typical athletic wear). She was also playing around with her hair, contemplating whether to keep it up in a ponytail or not. 

“What!? No!” Izzie sputters, keeping her hair down, “shut up.” 

Penelope shrugs and goes back to scribbling in her notebook. Izzie gives up and rushes to the door to grab her running shoes. 

“Why don’t you keep your hair up?” Penelope suggests, “and tell Casey I said hi.” 

“You’re annoying,” Izzie grumbles, slamming the door behind her. 

Penelope smirks, recalling the night she and Izzie had met. Izzie was a wreck. They were awkward with one another (at first) before suggested alcohol, getting Izzie drunk enough to admit her feelings for a certain runner on their team. Some girl named Newton (whom she later found out was actually named Casey). Ever since then, Penelope has tried to get Izzie to talk about her, but to no avail. So instead, she has resorted to teasing and implications. To be fair, she still hasn’t met the girl and they’ve been back for almost a week now. 

Penelope decides to refocus her attention on her notebook paper, scribbled with lines that could only be described as word vomit. Sighing in annoyance, she decides she’s had enough of writing for one day. So far she has been unable to finish anything. She wasn’t sure how she was going to survive the next few months being stuck in this place. 

Maybe a change in scenery will do something. But she needed a car for that and the last time she checked, Izzie took off with it. If she had known that the closest coffee shop would be thirty minutes away, she would definitely rethink her choice in company. 

“You know, Penelope,” Zahid begins, “that is a dope ass name you got there.” 

Penelope nods her head, “thank you Zahid, your name is pretty cool as well.” 

This was the last time she would take an offer from Izzie. After she decided to give into her scenery change idea, she immediately texted Izzie. Casey said that Zahid was already on his way over to that side of town and wouldn’t mind the extra company. 

“Casey tells me that you and Izzie are cousins” Zahid continues, “let me tell you, Mr. Brown sugar himself loves cousins. Not my own cousins, I’m not like that, but cousins of other friends, you know? I once met this girl who-”

Penelope groans internally. She should’ve just taken Izzie’s offer on running, which would probably be less painful than this. A long thirty minutes’ drones on before they finally reach their destination. Zahid pulls up to a plaza square and Penelope rushes out. 

“Thank you again for the ride Zahid,” Penelope forces a smile. 

“No problemo Portobello,” Zahid rhymes, “what would be a good time for me to scoop you up?” 

Penelope panics, she could not endure another thirty minutes in this car, “actually I’m meeting a friend who lives here and I’m sure they’ll be taking me home, so you can just head back to whatever you were doing before Casey called. Thank you again Zahid. It was _really_ nice meeting you.” 

Before Zahid could respond, Penelope turns away and walks towards the plaza square, eyes falling onto a neon sign brightly promoting the Mystic Falls Diner. It wasn’t a coffee shop but it looked fairly quiet. 

As Penelope entered the facility, she recognized the dilemma she had found herself in. She did not have any other friends in this city whatsoever. That meant, getting home was going to be a problem. However, balancing the scales between taking another car ride from Zahid or being stranded in this diner, she would rather just take her chances. 

“Table for one?” a voice draws her out of her thoughts and she’s face to face with a girl with red hair and piercing blue eyes. 

“Yes,” her eyes scan for a name tag, _Hope_, pretty name she thinks to herself. 

“Thank you,” the girl responds, smiling at her. 

Penelope flushes red realizing her mouth has once again defied her. 

“You must be new here,” Hope points out, walking Penelope over to an empty booth. 

“That obvious?” 

“We usually only ever get regulars here,” Hope places a menu in front of Penelope, “anytime there’s a new face, it isn’t that hard to immediately notice them.”

“Fair enough point,” Penelope agrees, taking quick glance around the diner, which was, for the most part, empty, “looks like you have a lot on your hands with the regulars.”

Hope laughs and slyly responds, “well it is a Tuesday afternoon, which so happens to be our busiest hours, as you can so clearly point out.” 

“Well, if that is the case, I should probably find a different place to do some work,” Penelope banters, “maybe a decent coffee shop?” 

Hope wrinkles her nose, her eyes forehead puckered together as she mentally runs through the places in her mind, “I don’t know anything about great coffee places, but my girl Maya in the back makes a pretty decent cup.” 

Penelope raises her brow, “I’m intrigued, I guess I’ll take one of Maya in the back’s ‘decent’ cups.”

“Smart choice Ms.…” Hope inquires. 

“Penelope,” Penelope smiles sweetly at her. 

“Penelope,” Hope repeats, “pretty name,” she winks before taking off. Penelope doesn’t think much of it and settles into the booth, hoping she could accomplish something today that would make the car-ride here much more worth it. 

* * *

“Lizzie please,” Josie Saltzman groans, “I do not want to spend the rest of today hiding behind a booth while you stalk Hope.” 

“I’m not stalking anybody Jo,” Lizzie says defensively, “I supposedly happen to be there the same time she is working and if I see her, I’m merely observing her from a very reasonable distance. And if she so happens to be our waitress then that’s on fate.” 

Josie rolls her eyes, “fate? Seriously Lizzie? I promised Dad I would help him look at the upcoming students for next term.” 

This time it was Lizzie who rolls her eyes, “please Jo, next term is months away and summer is still in the air. Not to mention, dad already has Dorian and Emma helping. You can go three hours without giving into your constant need to assist someone.” 

Josie’s eyes narrow and she watches the guilt appear on her sisters’ face, “God I’m sorry Jo, that was low. I promise, I am working on it. I just really need you with me tonight.” 

Josie’s face remains neutral, not wanting to give into her sisters needs right away. 

“Please Josie,” Lizzie sighs, defeated, “I’ll do anything.” 

Josie sighs, knowing herself well enough to know she wouldn’t be able to deny her sister, “fine, I’ll go with you. But only if you pay for my meal _and_ I get a milkshake.”

“Yes! Deal,” Lizzie beams, pulling her twin sister into a strong embrace.

“You’re also driving,” Josie adds on, causing Lizzie to groan. Neither of them enjoyed driving, especially when it came to parking. 

Lizzie manages to get them both there in one piece. When they arrive at the diner, it was empty. To be fair, Josie understood it was a Tuesday afternoon and business only ever bloomed during the weekends. 

“Must be a really slow afternoon,” Josie points out, her eyes finding Hope immediately (she wasn’t the only one). Josie could quite literally feel her twin tense up next to her. Josie watched as Lizzie gawked over the tiny red-headed girl. 

“Hope!” Josie announces, causing Hope to turn around. 

“Josie, what are you doing?” Lizzie whispers, dread dripping through her tone. 

“What? I thought her being our waitress is supposed to be fate.” 

“Yes Jo, fate herself, not you playing as fate.” 

Josie shrugs and watches as Hope excuses herself from whatever conversation she was in and waves at the twins. She saunters over to the podium and grabs two menus before making her way towards the twins. 

“If it isn’t my favorite pair of twins,” Hope grins, eyes brightening at the sight of Lizzie. 

Josie had known about Hope’s crush on her sister (for a while now), but she has been unable to tell her sister, due to a sworn oath she took (perk of being Hope Mikaelson’s best friend). And then just recently was she informed of Lizzie’s feelings for the red-headed girl and although it would only take a nudge to get them together, Lizzie made Josie swear she would not meddle. Now, she was stuck painfully watching her sister and best friend dance around one another. 

“I’m assuming, the usual?” Hope implies, leading them to their table. 

“Yes, but I’m getting a milkshake this time!” Josie exclaims, “cause dearest sister here is paying.” 

“Oh yeah? Don’t tell me you lost a bet to Josie” Hope asks Lizzie, her blue eyes sparkling, making Lizzie completely lose any train of thought. 

“Well,” Lizzie began, not knowing what to say, “you see, it was, erm. Something like that, actually yeah sure, a bet. Sounds about right.” 

Josie internally cringes watching her sister formulate a string of words that when put together, made no sense whatsoever. 

Hope in turn laughs at Lizzie’s nervousness, “well okay, I will go ahead and put your orders in. Call me if you need anything else.” 

“Thank you Hope,” Josie commented. Once Hope was out of earshot, she eyes her sister, whose head was laying on the table. 

“Liz, is everything okay?” Josie questions. Lizzie was naturally nervous when around her crushes, but Josie made it a form of habit to ask if her sister was doing okay. 

“Yeah, totally, everything is fine. Peachy. Amazing. WONDERUFL,” Lizzie lifts her head and sulks back into her seat and Josie knows it’s going to be a long rest of her day. Josie resorts to watching Hope move around to the very few other guests in the diner, until one in particular catches her attention. 

Two booths away sat the most beautiful girl Josie has ever laid her eyes upon. She had short raven-colored hair with piercing green eyes. She observed as the girl scribbled into her notebook, seeing her faces go through the many motions of writing. All which Josie could deeply relate too. She didn’t even realize she had been staring for long, until her inside thoughts started to sound a lot like Lizzie. 

“Josie? Earth to Josette,” Lizzie’s loud voice rang in her ears, bringing her back from her reverie, “are you listening to me? what are you even looking at?”

Josie immediately breaks her trance, preventing Lizzie from turning around, “nothing Liz, just wondering when Hope will be back with our food. I’m starving.” 

“I’m sure she’ll be back soon,” Lizzie defends expectantly, “it’s probably backed up.” 

Josie rolls her eyes, before sarcastically responding, “yes, along with the full crowd of people here.” 

Lizzie glares at her but Josie can’t help but feel relief as Lizzie finds something else (or someone else) to focus her attention on. Josie knew she shouldn’t be fearful of this anymore, but she couldn’t help but feel this way. The last thing she needed was Lizzie setting her sights on someone new. Something she was prone to doing. Whenever Josie had a crush on someone, Lizzie would too and usually Lizzie would win. 

She decides to focus her full attention on Lizzie, keep herself occupied. Eventually Hope arrives with their food and makes small talk with Lizzie, giving Josie a few minutes of spare time, which she uses looking for the pretty girl with green eyes. 


	2. you look pathetic

When Penelope moved in with Izzie, she feared they would not get along. The Parks were known for being notorious assholes and with her father being the absent person he is, she never expected anything from that side of the family. And yet, when they offered to pay for her living situation at Clayton, on the condition that Penelope would be living with her, Izzie immediately jumped at the chance. 

Luckily for her, Penelope was far from bad company. 

_ **To: Newton** _   
_I’m home!!! Run? _

_ **Newton** _   
_Yes pls. Meet in 20?_

_ **Izzie** _   
_Perfect. See u soon c: _

Izzie smiles, her heart skipping a beat. She hasn’t seen Casey since Slurpee night. 

_Slurpee Night. _

“I really love him,” Casey declares. Izzie knows. Of course, she knows.

Izzie rests her head back into the car seat, “I know you do.” 

“It’s just sometimes a thing feels, like… so right, you know?” 

Izzie’s heart sped up. Yes, of course she knows. She’s known since the day she felt as if she lost Casey for good. Nothing scared her more than losing her favorite person ever. She reaches out, touching Casey’s fingers, feeling a surge of electricity tore through her body. As she grabs ahold of Casey’s hand, she couldn’t help but think that nothing has felt more right to her than being in this moment. 

Izzie watches as Casey ignores Evan’s call. She then tries to ignore the giddiness that came from doing so. They sit there for a few minutes before her phone goes off again. This time, Casey pulls away, intrigued at the string of messages. 

“Is everything okay?” she questions, concerned but also sad that Casey had pulled away. 

“It’s Elsa.” Izzie sighs in relief, as Casey continued to read, “Hi honey bear. Bear emoji. Can you please pick up a fire extinguisher on the way home?” 

Izzie was torn between feeling sad the moment had passed to confusion. Was Elsa okay? Why would she need a fire extinguisher right now? Was this an emergency or-?

She looks over and sees Casey’s sly smirk and they both burst into fits of laughter. 

“Yeah, so we should probably-” Casey begins. 

Izzie nods, “yeah!” 

“Yeah,” Casey begins to put on her seatbelt.

“Yeah,” Izzie agrees, “Let’s go, honey bear.” 

“Awesome,” Casey whispers, turning on the car engine. 

And just like that the moment had come and gone. 

For the next few weeks, while she dealt with her family issues, she couldn’t help but be brought back to that night. She was definitely confused about her feelings, and yet one thing remained constant. She needed Casey in her life, even if it would only ever be friendship between them. 

“Trying to look pretty for a run I see,” Penelope’s voice startles her as she was stared at herself in the mirror. 

“What!? No!” Izzie sputters, unable to decided what to do with her hair, she chose to just leave it down, “shut up.” 

Penelope shrugs and goes back to scribbling in her notebook. She then rushes to the door to grab her running shows. 

“Keep your hair up,” Penelope suggests, “and tell Casey I said hi.” 

“You’re annoying,” Izzie grumbles, before slamming the door behind her. The only reason why Penelope knew about her feelings was because of one drunken night, caused by shitty liquor and a lot of free time. Ever since then, Penelope has tried to get Izzie to talk about her, only she was not willing to budge. 

When Izzie arrived at the park first, she couldn’t help but feel nervous. It’s just Newton, she told herself. Nothing to be nervous about, and yet here she was. 

“Izzie!” she hears a voice and immediately her heart flutters at the sound. 

She looks up and sees Casey dressed in an oversized yellow tank top and black shorts. So simple, it spelled out Casey, which made Izzie’s heart yearn even more. 

“Newton,” she declares softly, standing up to hug the taller girl. 

They stretched for a bit before running side by side throughout town. 

“It is so good to be back,” Izzie breathes out, “I love my cousin and her family, but after a while, I don’t love them that much.” 

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Casey responds.

“I know. Since Slurpee night,” Izzie looks over at Casey. 

“Yeah, Slurpee night,” Cause agrees, “that was fun.” “So fun,” Izzie states, “I’m so glad to have a friend like you. I haven’t had a best girlfriend since I was little.” 

The moment those words left her voice, she wanted to punch herself in the face. But she had to remind herself that she needed Casey in her life. Even if it’s only as a friend. 

“It’s nice,” Izzie confirms, “easy.”

“Yeah, easy. Totally easy.” 

They continue for a few more blocks before Izzie’s phone goes off. 

“Are you going to answer that?” Casey points out.

Izzie nods her head and answers the phone. It was Penelope asking for a ride to the other side of town, Mystic Falls. 

“Is everything okay?” Casey questions, concerned.

“It’s my cousin, she needs a ride and I’m nowhere near the car,” Izzie explains before Casey makes a suggestion. 

“My friend Zahid is always going to that side of town, I can ask if he could take her.” 

“Are you sure about that?” Izzie asks softly. 

Casey smiles at her, “of course I am. What are friends for?” 

_Friends_. Yes, they were friends, just friends. Friends. Friends. Friends. 

* * *

A few hours after their run, the two girls go on their own way. When Izzie makes her way back to her car, she notices her phone start to ring as notifications came through. 

** _Penelope Park_ **   
_DID I EVER TELL U HOW AMAZING U R? _

_OKAY THAT DIDN’T GET A RESPONSE. _

_IZZIE? _

_HI SO, I AM IN A PICKLE. _

_I’m basically stranded. Can u pls pick me up. _

_[Penelope Park has shared her location with you]_

** _Izzie_ **   
_What happened to Zahid? _

** _Penelope Park_ **   
_[ . . . ] _

_Ur funny if u think im going to get into another car with him. Pls text me when ur nearby. Thank you. _

Once Izzie picked up Penelope and they arrived home, she immediately checked her phone, hoping Casey had responded back to any of her messages. When she saw, she had no other notifications, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. She must be with Evan. Of course, he was her boyfriend. 

“So how was your run?” Penelope smirks, taking a seat on her side of the bed. 

“Fine.”

** _To: Newton_ **   
_Thx again for today. Run again tmrw?_

Izzie had been too caught up to realize that Penelope had been trying to get her attention. 

“How was your day today Penelope?” Penelope sarcastically says, “oh, it was so great Izzie, you’ll never guess what happened, I was stuck in a car with a man who referred to himself as Mr. Brown Sugar. Really Penelope? Tell me more, I’m so intrigued.” 

Izzie looks over at Penelope’s face. The two stare at each other for a second before bursting into laughter. 

“He did not say that.”“Oh, but he did, my dearest cousin,” Penelope cringes just reminiscing that moment. 

Izzie laughs harder, “Zahid maybe a lot of things, but I can’t deny how great of a friend he is towards Casey and Sam.” 

Penelope shrugs, “Yeah, I suppose. Well, how was your run? How was Casey? Did you tell her that I’m still looking forward to meeting her?” 

Izzie tenses up, not liking discussing Casey with anybody else, “it was great, we ran for a good amount. Casey said she’s excited to meet you too.” 

“So are we inviting her over?” 

Izzie pauses, _there was no way in hell that was going to happen_, “you know what? I should probably shower now.” 

“Right now?” Penelope challenges. 

“YUP,” Izzie gets up from where she was sitting and rushes into the bathroom, avoiding Penelope’s questionable glances. She looks at her phone again and sees that Casey still hasn’t responded. Sighing, she decides to just put it behind her and get cleaned up for dinner. 

The following morning Izzie checks her phone to find a string of unread messages. 

** _From: Newton_ **   
_Hi! Yesterday was fun :) I would love to run with you, but funny story, I just finished emergency surgery. _

I am now one less organ. 

** _Izzie_ **   
_WTF? Is everything okay? Do you need anything? What happened? Should I come over? Am I able to see you?_

** _Newton_ **   
_LOL, it’s okay. I’m fine. Sadly, it wasn’t even an interesting organ. _

_Appendix. I don’t even need one of those. _

_Anyways, I am on bed rest for 6 weeks, so running away from Elsa will just have to wait. _

  
Izzie giggles at her comment. Of course, Casey would make a joke during this kind of situation. She turns over and notices Penelope’s still passed out. She quietly gets up and grabs her clothes, making her way towards the bathroom, wanting to get an early start without having to go through a questionnaire with her cousin. 

Izzie loved her cousin but she hated how intuitive and deep Penelope could get. She would much rather spend time with Casey, especially after her emergency surgery. Before heading to the Gardner’s residence, she looks around her pantry and finds an unopened package of Twizzlers. This will do, she mumbles to herself before rushing out the door. 

“Izzie, what a nice surprise” Elsa beams, “please, come inside!”

“Hey Mrs. Gardner, I heard about what happened to Casey and wanted to surprise her.” 

Elsa smiles knowingly, “of course, she’s upstairs in bed.” 

Izzie nods her head and mutters a polite thank you before heading upstairs. Elsa watched lovingly as Izzie walked away. Elsa would never admit this, but the mother instinct in her knew the special place Casey held for Izzie and she couldn’t help but find that endearing. 

Izzie approaches Casey’s room, gripping onto the Twizzlers. She peers into the room and sees the taller girl laying upright in bed, with a small blanket covering her. She admires her for a second, glad that she was reading some kind of magazine or book. 

“Knock, knock.” 

Casey looks up and relief floods her face, “Oh, thank God, I’m so bored,” she immediately closes the book and tosses it to the side. Izzie can’t help but smile endearingly at her. 

“You look pathetic.” 

Casey pouts and Izzie can’t help but smile in return. She looked adorable. 

“I brought Twizzlers,” she states, pulling out the candy from behind. 

“You brought me your favorite candy?” 

“You’re welcome. Scooch,” she places the candy down and takes off her shoes, climbing into the warm bed, taking half of the blanket for herself. As she settles, she can’t help but notice how close her and Casey are. 

“Your bed is so cozy and warm.” 

“It’s all the farting I’ve been doing,” Casey responds cheekily. 

“You’re so gross,” she responds, inciting a giggle from Casey. 

“You didn’t know that?” a voice interrupts. Izzie looks up to find Evan standing in front of the door. 

“Evan,” she states. 

“Hey,” Casey greets.

Evan takes a step forward, “no more appendix?”

“It’s all gone. I miss it.”

Izzie didn’t know what came over her, but as Evan made his way to the other side of the bed, she instinctively put a bit of space between her and Casey. 

“I’m sorry. Now that banana bread incident is starting to make a lot more sense: your appendix hated banana bread.” 

Evan leans over and kisses Casey. Izzie can’t help but feel uncomfortable, like she shouldn’t be here. Not to mention the way her stomach was churning at the sight of them two. 

“Maybe I should go,” she began to move before Casey immediately stops her. 

“No, stay,” Casey turns to look at Evan, “I need my loved ones around me. We don’t know how much time I have left.”

_I guess I’m staying_, Izzie thought to herself. 

Evan chuckles, “I got you this.”

“A sheep?” 

“Yeah. It’s a little weird, but there’s a story behind it.” 

“Super weird,” Izzie agrees, her tone a bit challenging. She didn’t mean to come off as rude, but she couldn’t help it. The sheep looked angry and Casey couldn’t eat it, so in her mind, her Twizzlers gift was much better. 

“Oh, my God, look at it, it’s angry,” Casey growls and Izzie’s heart flutters. 

“It’s so angry,” Izzie laughs, “get it away,” she grabs the sheep and places it behind them. “Movie time?” 

Casey reaches over to grab her laptop, “yep!” she turns to Evan and pats the bed, “get in.” 

Izzie watches as Evan places himself into the vacant spot. Casey hands over a piece of the blanket, “here.” 

“Thank you,” Evan mumbles, putting what little part of the blanket on one side of his jeans.

“Okay, guys. What have we got?” 

Izzie feels herself start to stir when the pillow (that was Casey) had gotten up out of bed. She could feel Evan start to get up as well and decided to remain ‘asleep’ not wanting to participate in any type of awkward small talk. 

Once the room had cleared, Izzie rose and grabbed her phone from the night stand. 

** _Penelope Park_ **   
_IZZIE_

_WHERE DID U GO?_

_HELLO? _

_I AM TAKING AN UBER TO MYSTIC FALLS AGAIN. CAN U PICK ME UP?_

_I AM ASSUMING UR GOING TO PICK ME UP. _

_OKAY SEE U AT 6. _

  
Izzie rolls her eyes as Casey entered the room. 

“Where’s Evan?” she questions, distress in her voice. 

“I don’t know,” Izzie didn’t exactly pay attention to him. 

Casey quickly walks away, following Evan downstairs. Izzie begrudgingly responds back to Penelope.

_ **Izzie P** _   
_Fine. _

_But you owe me. _

When Casey returns, Izzie couldn’t help but feel off. It’s like she knew the next words that would come out of Casey’s mouth would somehow hurt. 

“Everything okay?” 

Casey nods her head, “Yeah. He just had to get home.” 

Izzie hums in agreement as Casey awkwardly looked down at the floor, “Um, hey. I’m gonna sleep over at Evan’s next weekend. You think you could cover for me?” 

_Oh. Oh, yeah. Of course. _

“Um… Yeah. Yeah.” Izzie fakes a smile, pushing all the feelings of jealousy deeper into her soul. 

“Cool,” Casey responds, swaying over to the other side of the room. Izzie looks down at her phone, defeat written all over her face.

“I should actually head out as well, I have to pick up Penelope from Mystic Falls.” 

“Again?”

“Yeah, the perks of sharing a car with your cousin,” Izzie stands up and places on her shoes, “I’ll see you when I see you.” 

“Okay, cool,” Casey nods her head. It’s awkward between the two of them. 

“Bye,” Izzie waves before heading out. As soon as she entered her car, she sinks into the seat, wanting to slam her head into the steering wheel. 

_This was perfect. Just perfect. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so this chapter is cazzie!!! i basically used the dialogue but did it from Izzie's POV :)
> 
> as always, ur comments and kudos are always much appreciated!! next chapter is posie :) should be up soon! alright yeah, enjoy!!


	3. no way you could ever look like a fool

Josie Saltzman was not subtle when it came to dealing with her emotions. 

When Hope arrived with their food, Josie devoured it in minutes, that she went back to observing the green-eyed girl get lost in her own work. As she allowed her mind to drift, she didn’t even notice that Hope joined them at their table. 

Josie used this to her advantage. She couldn’t meddle in their relationship, but she could still nudge them into the right direction. 

“Oh look it’s Ethan and Maya, I’ll be right back,” Josie rises, feeling her sister’s eyes glower at her. With Hope’s back facing her, she mouths ‘now’s your chance, you got this’. Lizzie glares at her and Josie slyly beams, making a her way to Maya and Ethan, who were lounging around the bar area. 

“If it isn’t my least favorite Saltzman twin,” Maya jokes, pouring a cup of coffee and pushing it towards Josie. 

“And if it isn’t my least favorite Machado sibling,” Josie teases back. Maya scoffs while Ethan smirks at Josie. 

“To be fair, I prefer Landon over any of you all,” Ethan remarks, shrugging his shoulders. 

Landon pops his head from behind the counter and blushing a rosy pink, “thank you Ethan.” 

“Gross,” Maya remarks before turning her attention back to Josie, who was too busy ogling the green-eyed girl in the corner. 

“Dare I say you are beginning to look worse than Hope right about now,” Maya points out, breaking Josie from her trance. 

Josie scoffs, “are you seriously comparing me that love-sick puppy over there,” Josie and Maya turn their attention to her twin and best friend chatting with one another. Josie could really see the love that Hope had for her sister, which made her heart melt. 

Maya gazes over at the pair and visibly tenses up “yeah, they’re really the pair of the year, aren’t they?” 

Josie raises her eyebrow at Maya’s change in tone, “is everything okay Maya?”

Before Maya could respond, a voice come from behind her speaks up, “Hi, excuse me. I’m sorry to bother you. I saw my waitress, Hope sitting over there and I didn’t want to bother but I was wondering if I could get a refill on the coffee?” 

Josie turns to face the voice and immediately freezes. 

Maya notices the change in her friends’ stature, “yeah sure thing, I’ll go brew you a fresh pot, but while you wait, feel free to take a seat, my girl Josie here can keep you company.” The green-eyed girl tilts her head and makes her presence known in Josie’s line of sight. Her mouth curves into a smile. Maya doesn’t linger. Josie takes in the image of the girl, realizing she looked even more beautiful up close. 

“Y-you don’t have to if you don’t want too. I’m sure Maya can bring your cup of coffee when it’s ready.” 

The girl doesn’t even hesitate before responding, “and miss my chance to talk to a pretty girl? No way.” 

Josie blushes, okay so she’s smooth, “are you sure about that? You looked pretty busy with your writing,” the green-eyed girl raises her eyebrow and Josie immediately regrets everything. 

“I mean, from far away it may have looked like that, you know? When someone is invested in something, it gives the assumption they’re busy and writing is a task in which one would be invested in, but how would I know? It’s not like I was staring at you or anything of that matter.” 

Josie finally shuts up and in turn wanted to scream. Only she could dig herself into a grave in front of a stranger. 

_Great, she probably scared this girl off. _

There was no way she was going to stick around now. And yet, Josie observed as the girl giggled at her. A very heavenly giggle at that matter that it didn’t even bother her that the girl was most likely laughing at her inability to speak to other humans. 

The only thing that mattered was the soft sound of a girl whose name she didn’t know. 

* * *

If there was one thing Penelope knew she was good at, it was being intuitive to her surroundings. 

Even when she focused on her writing nothing, she was still able to notice details that were not in place. So, when the loud diner door opens, she immediately captured by the cute girl that enters the facility. Brunette hair and tall stature is all she remembered before Hope seated the pair a few booths down. 

And because she was a Park, she owned an ego that prevented her from staring at the girl. Penelope had to fight every instinct to look up at her. At one point, she gave into it a little and she swore the girl had looked in her direction as well. 

An hour goes by and Penelope was fed up with her work (or lack thereof). She lifts her head and notices the girl getting up from her table and making her way towards the bar area. 

_Okay, now or never Park_. If there was one thing a Park never could be, it was a quitter. 

She gulps down the last of her mediocre coffee (no offense to Maya in the back) and strolls over to where the girl was sitting. 

“Hi, excuse me. I was wondering if I could get a refill on one of your infamous coffee brew?”

Maya looks over at Penelope and smiles, “sure thing, I’ll go brew you a fresh pot, but while you wait, feel free to take a seat, my girl Josie here can keep you company.” 

_Josie_. That is a _really_ pretty name she thinks to herself (this time, she doesn’t actually say it out loud). Penelope looks over at the girl, taking in her features. Wow, she’s even more beautiful up close. 

Before Penelope could come up with a smooth line, Josie had already started speaking. 

“Y-you don’t have to if you don’t want too. I’m sure Maya can bring your cup of coffee when it’s ready.”

Penelope smirks, “and miss my chance to talk to a pretty girl? No way.” 

Josie blushes giving Penelope a bit of a confidence boost, “are you sure about that? You looked pretty busy with your writing.” 

Penelope raises her eyebrows. _Wonderful to know she wasn’t the only one who paid attention._

“I mean, from far away it may have looked like that, you know? When someone is invested in something, it gives the assumption they’re busy and writing is a task in which one would be invested in” the girl begins to nervously laugh, “but how would I know? It’s not like I was staring or anything of that matter.”   
  
Penelope can’t help but giggle, and not in an offensive way but an admirable way. This girl was seriously the most precious thing ever. 

Josie nervously chuckles, “I should probably leave you alone before I make an even bigger fool of myself.”

“No, wait,” Penelope steps forward, “I never properly introduced myself. My name Penelope and there is no way you could ever look like a fool, not to me.”

_God, that sounded so cheesy._ But once those words left her mouth, she had to roll with it. 

“And if you’re free right now, I have an empty table and some extra scones. I would love to discuss writing, the task in which you saw me participate in.” 

Josie parts her mouth slightly but before she could articulate a response, a loud voice interrupts, “JOSIE!”

Josie breaks away their eye contact and stumbles back a bit, her eyes a bit dazed. She looks over to her booth, “th-that’s my cue.” 

Penelope nods her head, disappointed. 

“What are your plans for tomorrow?” Josie asks, her voice low and unsure. 

Penelope decides it is now or never. She grabs a napkin from the table and writes down her phone number, “how about you let me know?” 

“JOSIE” the voice barks again and Penelope can’t help but feel slightly irritated. Josie apologizes before walking away, holding the napkin in her hand. 

* * *

As Josie tottered back to her table, she could feel Lizzie’s eyes glowering at her.

“Who was that?” Lizzie accuses, watching Penelope return back to her booth. 

“No one,” Josie brushes off, “she wanted more coffee and I happened to be standing there while she waited. Where’d Hope go?” 

“She had to clock back in,” Lizzie explains before branching into another story about her and Hope. And as hard Josie tried to pay attention, the only thing she could focus on was the burning sensation of the napkin in right hand pocket. 

“So, you’re in, right?” Lizzie asks, breaking Josie from her thoughts.

“Yeah, okay,” Josie agrees, not entirely sure to what yet, but Lizzie seemed quite excited for it. 

“Perfect!’ Lizzie squeals, “you’re the best sister ever!”

Josie smiles to herself, agreeing. Yeah, she kind of is.

The following night, she watches as Hope walks with her and Lizzie back to the Salvatore school. Being with Penelope, even for a few minutes felt exhilarating. How does one even feel this way about a person she’s spoken only twenty words too? Usually she wouldn’t give into strangers. Something about Lizzie judging them. In fact, Lizzie has never liked any of the people she’s dated or like (unless she went for them herself). 

And yet, watching her and Hope dance around each other made Josie crave it for herself. Fuck it, she deserved a chance at being happy with someone for a change. She decided that she was going to message Penelope tomorrow. She was too much of a coward to do it today but, yes, that’s exactly what she was going to do. 

After a busy morning helping her father prep a lesson plan, she quickly rushed back to her room to find her jacket with Penelope’s number, only to find a tidied room with no jacket. 

“Hey Liz, have you seen my jacket” Josie mumbles.

“What’d you say?” Lizzie asks, curiously looking up from the book she was reading. 

“Have you seen my jacket?” Josie asks, “the one I wore yesterday?” 

“I washed it,” Lizzie states before going back to her book. 

“WHAT?” Josie’s voice spikes as she panics.

_No, no, no, no, no. _

Lizzie eyes narrow at her sister’s panicked voice, “I wanted to say thank you for yesterday, so I decided to just add your laundry to mine.” 

Josie's eyes widen and she bolts out of the room. She runs to the shared laundry mat and immediately finds her basket, only to be disappointed as it had reached full spin cycle. She stops the load, pulling out her yellow jacket. Inside the right pocket held a napkin so damp, it fell apart in her hands. 

Josie groans, defeated. She throws her jacket back into the washer and sulks back to her room. 

_Now how was she going to reach her? _

* * *

The following morning, Penelope felt glued to her phone the way her younger cousins were obsessed with candy. When she received no response from Josie, she decided she would return to the diner, in hopes of running into her once more. To her surprise, it was a bit busier compared to yesterday. 

“Table for one?” a voice speaks up. Penelope looks at their name-tag, _Maya_. She recognizes her from yesterday. 

“Yes,” Penelope agrees and Maya leads her to one of the vacant booths. 

“You were here yesterday,” she observes and Penelope nods her head. She admits she was only paying half attention to what she was saying, too busy trying to locate the tall, brown-eyed girl. 

“Yup, I couldn’t get enough of your coffee, I just had to come back for more,” Penelope lies, the coffee was okay but not the reason why she was camping out here again. 

Maya gives her a straight face before shaking her head, “since you’re cute, I’m going let you in on a little secret, our coffee sucks and whatever Hope told you yesterday is a lie.”“Uh…” Penelope did not know how to respond.

“Let me bring you back something better, like our tea,” Maya suggests. 

“Yeah, okay,” Penelope agrees. 

For the next few hours, Penelope nervously kept herself busy, not wanting to look too eager if Josie were to show up. Scribbling away once again, she didn’t even notice the amount of time had passed until Maya came back around with a small plateful of scones. 

“Long day?” Maya asks, placing the plate between them. 

“I didn’t order these?” 

Maya shrugs, “I know, just thought you’d enjoy them.” 

“Oh, thank you,” Penelope softens, “I’m okay though, it’s been a pretty short day actually, I was asleep for most of it.” 

“Lucky you,” Maya’s eyes falter to the notebook next to Penelope, “what are you writing there?” 

Penelope looks down and sighs, “nothing, nothing at all.” 

Maya reads the room and decides to just leave her be. Penelope watches as she walks away, looking at the clock right above the bar. 

_4:56 PM._

She isn’t coming. 

_*BUZZ* _

Penelope excitedly breaks from her trance and glances down at her phone notifications. 

** _Izzie_ **   
_Fine. _

_But you owe me. _

Penelope sighs, before responding back to Izzie. Okay, she was going to give it one more hour. 

When Izzie finally shows up, Penelope decides to call it, not wanting to embarrass herself anymore by waiting here for someone who was clearly not going to show. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeahhhhhh. miscommunication sucks like a bitch, yanno? 
> 
> ALSO, this is going in the timeline of atypical, they're in summer rn but the next episodes will be school starting so stay tuned for thattttt


	4. it’s a like a gentle punch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> decided to try writing in Casey's POV this time!! 
> 
> this is a bit short but next chapter will be a bit longer

Getting her appendix out was not too bad, being unable to run for the rest of the summer was what wounded Casey the most. 

First day of school finally arrived and all Casey could focus on was finally getting back out there. Feeling the breeze hit her face as her feet guided her. All she could fantasize about was running. 

_Oh, fuck it_. She was going to run today, even if it ended up killing her. 

Casey quickly rose out of bed, putting on a black t-shirt and red gym shorts. As she approached the living space, she could hear Elsa and Sam talking. She quickly looks around for her running shoes, which all seemed to be missing. 

_That could only mean one thing. _

“The doctor said to wait six weeks, it’s been six weeks,” Casey claimed. 

Elsa steps forward, “it’s been five weeks, five days. I bet you’re still sore. Let me see your scar.” 

Casey jolts at Elsa’s contact, sliding back, “hey! My body. Bad touch.” 

Elsa send her a look and Casey walks off, “now give me my shoes. Where’d you put ‘em?” 

Casey walks around as her mother turns her attention onto Sam. She checks the cabinets first. _If I were running shoes, where would Elsa hide me?_  
  
“Sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Elsa places the folder in front of Sam. 

“No thanks,” Sam decides. 

Elsa sighs, taking a seat, “why not?” 

Casey closes the bottom cabinet, eyes rolling, “because he’s a grown-ass man.”

“For once she’s right, cause I’m a grown-ass man.”

“Casey, why are your sneakers in my t-shirt drawer?” her dad walks into the kitchen holding up her pair of sneakers. 

“Yes!” she enthusiastically grabs them from her father, before making a face at her mom. 

“I was hiding them,” Elsa exasperates, but it was too late, Casey was out the door. 

The moment the breeze hit her face, she could feel her body start to ache. God, this was going to be hard.

She ran for a good two miles before she couldn’t take the pain any longer. When she arrived home, she snuck past Elsa, not wanting to admit to her she had been right. She could never do that. Instead she jumps into the shower to get ready for school. 

First day of junior year, here she comes. 

* * *

Izzie wakes up feeling extremely exhausted and excited all at the same time. 

Moving all her things into the dorm was difficult, borderline torturous, but sleeping away from her siblings for the first time this entire summer, that was the real heartbreaker. 

She had grown accustomed to waking up in the middle of the night to soothe Javie back to sleep or make sure Koby wasn’t trying to steal cookies. She even missed little Mila’s endless tantrums. Maybe Izzie had just grown too used to noises, getting sleep with peace and quiet threw her off balance. And yet, the other part of her was grateful her grandparents agreed to watch them, as long as Izzie kept her commitment to babysitting them weekends and certain nights. Luckily for her, Penelope was around and always willing to help. 

“Ready for today?” Penelope ponders, fixing up her Clayton uniform. 

Izzie nods her head, “yeah, I’m actually going to head out a bit early. I’ll see you before your first class?” 

Penelope nods her head and Izzie is out the door. The first place she goes to is Casey’s locker, in hopes the taller girl had made it on time for the first time ever. 

When Izzie gets there, she smiles, bouncing her way to where Casey was. 

“So, junior year, you ready?” Izzie can’t help but endearingly look at her. Was it just her or did Casey managed to look even more beautiful than ever? 

Before Casey could respond, Nate appears, causing them to awkwardly disperse. Izzie can hear Casey sigh, she hasn’t exactly spoken to Nate since the incident, even if he’s left thousands of text messages, apologizing for his action. It just didn’t feel right. 

Izzie was not about to risk her relationship with Casey for some stupid guy like Nate.

Casey whispers a “hey,” only for Nate to grab his things and irritably trot away. 

Casey gives Izzie a knowing look, “you mean ten months of _that_ awkwardness? Can’t wait.” 

Izzie steps closer, putting her hand on Casey, pushing her into the right direction “he’s harmless.” 

Casey shrugs, “whatever you say.” 

“So what’s your first class?” Casey asks, looking for her class schedule. 

“English, how about you?”

“Pre-Calc,” Casey groans. 

Izzie empathizes, knowing how terrible the class itself is, “you’ll be great, just make sure you befriend the kid that sits in front, usually they’re the smartest, but I have to go pick up Penelope from the office, so I’ll see you later?” 

Casey nods her head, “yeah I’ll see you in a bit.” 

Izzie makes her way to the front office just in time to see Penelope to walk out. 

“And to think I thought you were going to ditch me for Casey,” Penelope comments. 

“Keep bringing up her name up and I might,” Izzie challenges. Penelope laughs as they walk over to her locker. 

“To be fair, it is the first day of school, and you did say I would meet her then,” Penelope inquires. Izzie tenses up, knowing her time at keeping them separate has come to an end.

“Sure, maybe later on today?” Izzie answers, hoping that’ll be enough for her. Penelope shrugs, focusing her attention on organizing her locker. Izzie waits around for a bit, before becomingly increasingly impatient, “c’mon P, we’re going to be late for class, you can fix it during lunch or something.” 

Penelope glares at her but nonetheless, finishes up and they gracefully make it to class on time, where Penelope effortlessly befriends everyone she’s encounters, even the professor. Izzie can’t help notice her cousin radiates head bitch in charge vibes. She doesn’t mind it though. Her being at Clayton was only so that she could further her life goals and get out of this God-forsaken town. 

She was here because it mattered. Penelope was here because her parents couldn’t bring her on their latest endeavor. 

When class finally ends, Izzie appreciates the company that Penelope had managed to congregate around her. 

“Looks like you found yourself a new tour guide, multiple tour guides,” Izzie points out, “so why don’t you let your posse show you your next class and I’ll see you at lunch!” 

“But-” Penelope protested, only to watch Izzie run out the door. 

“Newton!” Izzie greets, finding Casey already at her locker. 

Casey gives her a small wave, “hey, what’s up? Where’s that infamous cousin of yours?” 

“Out ruling the school,” Izzie remarks. 

“Already?” Casey questions and Izzie just nods. She leans her back onto the other lockers while Casey sorts through her things. 

“It kinda sucks you just had surgery,” Izzie muses, “it’s not gonna be as fun kicking your ass at practice.”   
  
Casey glances up from her orange binder, “I’ll have you know, I went on my first run, and I’m fast as ever.”

Of course Newton went on a run, that overachiever. 

“Did it hurt?” 

Casey smugly responds, “like a bitch.” 

Izzie laughs, _of course it would, dumbass. _

“Hey,” Nate comes into view, holding three milkshakes in his hands, “I brought you guys milkshakes. I don’t want it to be weird with us for the next two years, so… peace offering?” 

Izzie bites her lip, her mind focused on the milkshakes in Nate’s hand, _they looked so good right about now_. And honestly she could care less if Nate apologize or not. She was twitching from all the nervousness surrounding the first day that she had forgotten to eat. In other words, she was starving. 

Casey nods her head, “thanks. My stomach’s still a little wonky from the appendectomy, but…”

“I’ll take it!” she shrugs, she would not turn down free milkshakes. 

Nate hands her one, “her’s too,” Casey snickers. 

Nate hands the second one over to her, “thank you. Bye.” 

Izzie looks over at Casey before leaving them alone. She would much rather spend her time with Casey, but she still owed it to her cousin to make sure she made it to class without any hassle. 

* * *

Penelope’s first day at Clayton goes a little like this. 

After Izzie left her, she went ahead and met with the principle, who felt obligated to tell her how grateful he was for her father’s donation to the school. Of course, it is a Park tradition. Once that spiel was over, she leaves, not wanting to be late her first day. Luckily for her, she runs into Izzie, only to be ditched by her cousin the minute first period ended. 

To be fair, she didn’t have a hard time fitting in with the people here. Like every boarding school, Penelope knew the ins and outs. 

The next time she saw Izzie right before her third class and she happened to be holding milkshakes. 

“Is this your way of saying sorry for being such a bad cousin?” Penelope quips, crossing her arms. Izzie gave her a dismissive look before handing over one of her. 

“For the record, I am an amazing cousin who is offering to walk you to your next class.” 

“Don’t bother,” Penelope motions, “my next class is biology, which is down the hall. But I’ll see you for lunch?” 

Izzie looked taken aback but also proud at the same time, “well okay then, just text me if you need anything.” Penelope makes her way to class, before running into an average sized man with chocolate milkshake drenched all over him. 

“Move over, you idiot,” he grumbles, walking past her. 

Penelope didn’t particularly like his tone, but before she could react she hears a voice stop her. 

“Don’t mind him, he was born an ass,” she says much louder, causing the boy to turn around and flick her off. 

Penelope looks over at the girl with short hair, leaning against the wall next to a door labeled ‘Coach Crowley’

“Let me guess, that mess has something to do with you?” 

The girl laughs, “yeah, it happens to be my finest work.”

“Wonder what he did to deserve a milkshake in the face?” 

“Besides being an ass? So much. And to clarify, I didn’t pour the milkshake on it, I merely bopped it while in his hand.”

“Bopped it?” 

“Precisely,” she responds, “it’s like a gentle punch.” 

Penelope muses, “I hope it was worth it.”

“It was so worth it,” the girl concurs, chuckling, “you must be new here.” 

“Yeah, is it that obvious?” Penelope questions, still constantly amazed at how small this town started to feel. 

“Nah not really, I just assumed based on the way you’ve just handled Nate. Most people know him and know not to get in his way.” 

Nate. That name sounded familiar. It sounded like the guy that Izzie talked about. The asshole who cheated on her and tried to come between her and Casey. 

“Any who, welcome to Clayton. I’d offer to show you around, but I kind of have to speak with my coach about the bopping incident.” 

“It’s fine,” Penelope explains, running her fingers through her hair, “I should probably get going to class anyways”

The door opens revealing a short and statured coach with short blonde hair.

“Casey.” Coach Crowley scolds her voice filled with disappointment. 

_Casey?_

“Hey Coach, did I ever tell you just how much of amazing person you are.” 

The coach shakes her and walks back inside. Casey gives one last look at Penelope, “wish me luck new girl.”

“Good luck,” Penelope says before the door closes on her. As she walked to biology, she couldn’t help but finally connect the dots. 

_CASEY!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah, there's thattttt. 
> 
> how do we feel about penelope and casey meeting? how will izzie feel? 
> 
> also s/o to my friend kristina for giving me izzie's siblings name ideas, meet Javie, Koby, and Mila!! idk where i want to incorporate them but i'm glad i have names for them now. i do need some name ideas for the girls who attend clayton so if you have any pls drop them down below c: 
> 
> see u in a bitttt. as always ur feedback is much appreciated!!


	5. hope they don’t make me quarterback

“You signed me up for what now?” Josie stomps into her room holding a yellow jersey in her hands. 

“Correction, I signed us up for this year’s flag football game against Clayton Prep!” Lizzie trails behind, holding the roster in her hand. 

Josie shakes her head, “we usually play Mystic Falls High School, why the sudden change?” 

“We’re playing them too, just after Clayton,” Lizzie mumbles. Josie narrows her eyes, “okay, fine we weren’t supposed to play Clayton but Hope was talking about how her parents were thinking of transferring her there because of their good track team and I just thought that if Hope saw them in action, it would change her mind…”

“So you invite them to play flag football with us?” Josie exasperates, “I don’t understand.” 

Lizzie shakes head, “oh dearest sister, no, no. I invited them to get their ass kicked by us.”

Josie sees the determination in her sisters’ eyes and knew there was no getting out of this, “and when we do crush them, Hope and her family will know that Salvatore school is the best and only place to embrace the Mikaelson heir.” 

“I assume you have coerced a bunch of the star athletes into playing?” 

Lizzie grins, “yes, MG and Kaleb convinced the track team, Rafael agreed we’d have the football team, as long as it doesn’t interfere with their own games. Jed said the lacrosse team would be down. Alyssa Chang agreed on getting the softball players to join in and we have the support of Dad. So now all we need is for you to get Hope to agree to play with us.” 

Josie incredulously looks at her sister, “excuse me?” 

Lizzie’s eyes soften, “I… haven’t actually told her we were playing against them yet and Hope might want to go for QB one.”

“But you’re always QB?”

“That is true, but if Hope wants to be QB, are we really going to stop her? She’s one of the fastest runners here at school.”

“Why doesn’t she go for linebacker then?” 

Lizzie contemplates that before nodding her head, “you know what? That is a perfect idea. You should suggest that to her when you tell her she has to play.”Josie barks out a laugh, “oh no, no, no. I am not going to be the one that has to tell her that her name is already on the roster. You can keep me out of this.”

“B-b-but, but,” Lizzie stammers. Josie places the roster and jersey on her twin’s bed before heading out, “I’ll be at the diner today if you need me, let me know how the conversation goes!” 

Before Josie could hear Lizzie’s dispute, she was already out the door. _Not today_.

She arrives at the diner for the eighth time in the past five weeks. Each time she is hosted by Maya, who gives her nothing but questioning looks and witty remarks. 

“You know Saltzman, if you wanted to ask me out, you can just save yourself the trouble,” Maya blabs, not even looking up from her book, knowing well enough it was Josie who walked in. 

Josie frowns, walking past Maya, over to the bar area.

“Hey Josie,” Ethan waves, polishing the drafts, “Landon’s making your food right now, should be out in a bit.”

“Thank you Ethan,” Josie pulls out her laptop and begins doing working, occasionally peering over to where Ethan was standing, admiring the man for being so jubilant all the time. 

“If Ethan’s the one you want, you may have to fight Landon for him.” Maya appears with her plate of food, “not that I don’t believe you could take him, you totally could but then you’d look like you punched a puppy.” 

Josie looked ready to bite Maya’s head off, “I’m kidding Saltzman. How about we make a deal? You tell me why you’ve been weird about coming here for the past five weeks and I’ll give this to you, on the house.” 

Josie spent a pensive moment before shrugging, “nah.” 

Maya tilts her head, “okay, so it has nothing to do with the green-eyed beauty that just entered the diner?”

Josie couldn’t recall a time where she turned around so quickly, only to be disappointed and embarrassed. 

“Oh wow, can we talked about whipped. I can’t believe you fell for that,” Maya barks, laughing hysterically. 

Josie turns a crimson red, ready to give Maya a piece of her mind. 

“Maya,” Ethan scolds, watching the pair from the drafts. Maya looks at her brother and immediately stops laughing. She looks over at Josie, guilt appearing in her face. Usually when they bantered, it worked because Josie never took offense to the things Maya said or did.

Only this time, Josie lacked patience, mainly because of her stupidity that led her into the position she was in right now, “look, I’m sorry for that Jo. Let me make it up to you, this can be on the house and I’ll let you know that if you happen to be talking about the green-eyed girl who drank too much of our shitty coffee, well she hasn’t been back here since that week she first came in.”

_And there it was._

“Maybe it’s time you let go of a girl you’ve met for five minutes and actually focus on what’s in front of you.”

Josie sulks, knowing deep down Maya was right. Who was she kidding coming back to this diner in hopes of seeing her again? And in a town, that large, what was the likeliness she would actually run into her again? And yet, all she wanted was another chance, to explain to her she didn’t want to stand her up. She was going to message her, but things happened and curse her for not originally saving the number. 

With all the thoughts of uncertainty running through her mind, Josie didn’t even notice the way Ethan observed them both, his sad eyes trailed onto his sister, who eagerly waited for Josie to give her the time of day. 

* * *

“You punched his milkshake? How do you punch a milkshake? It’s a liquid,” Crowley scrunches her face, clenching onto a yellow lacrosse ball. 

“I didn’t punch it. I bopped it.” Casey clarifies, “it’s more gentle than a punch.” 

“On accident?” 

“No, on purpose,” _He deserved that_, she wanted to scream, “have you met this kid?” 

Crowley shakes her head, disappointed, “Casey.” 

“Crowley.”   
  
“You have tremendous potential. You’re smart, you’re tough, you work hard, and you seem completely happy to throw it all away.” 

Casey grows defensive “that’s not what I’m doing.”“Isn’t it? You don’t think you belong here, so-”

“I don’t,” Casey reaffirms, have you seen the people that went here? 

“Look, I’m not trying to be a menace, and I love this team,” she truly meant it. Being here has been life-changing.   
  
“I know, but it’s junior year. It’s a big one for you, SATs, college stuff,” Casey looks down, _she knows_, “you need to set aside the emotional angst and decide what you want.” 

“Do I have to?” Crowley rolls her eyes and tosses the yellow lacrosse ball onto her lap. 

“Okay, since it is the first day of school, I won’t write you up but I can’t let this go unpunished, so I am signing you up to participate in this year’s co-ed flag football match.” 

Casey shakes her head, “what?”

“This year Clayton will participate in a friendly flag-football game against the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. It’s just a friendly match, winners earn a title and that’s that. The principle is asking me to recruit players and you’re going to the be first one on that list.” 

“But-” Casey protests. She was a runner not a football player. 

“No buts Casey, it’s either that or I make you sit out the first meet and I’m sure you and I would both agree, we need you running.” 

Casey immediately shuts up and lets Crowley finish lecturing her. Eventually it ends and she finds herself in next period, not able to pay attention to the professor at all. Before she could completely zone out, she feels a tap on her shoulder.

Next to her was Izzie, who had her concerned face on. 

Izzie leans over and writes on her notebook. 

_u ok? _

Casey shrugs, writing back _could be worst_

Izzie raises her eyebrow, mouthing “what happened?” 

Casey writes, _spoke 2 crowley_

Izzie respond, about?

Casey sighs, _tell u l8r _

Izzie nods her head and Casey spends the rest of the long period trying to inhale as much information about chemistry as she could possibly attain, only to be distracted again by the thought of playing football. What kind of torture was that? She didn’t even know how to play. 

_God, I hope they don’t make me quarterback, she thought to herself._

Once class ends, Izzie immediately grabs Casey’s arm and takes her too her locker, “okay Newton spill, what happened?” 

Casey starts off with the Nate incident. 

“You punched his milkshake?” Izzie gasps and Casey groans. 

“No, I bopped it! Bopped!” Casey decides to show her by bopping Izzie’s binder, causing it to drop to the ground along with a few papers. Izzie gives her stunned, dumfounded look and Casey instantly regrets it. 

“Okay, maybe a more aggressive bop that I previously expected,” Casey apologizes, bending down to grab and then continues to tell Izzie what Crowley suggested her punishment would be. 

“You’re being forced to play in a flag football match against the Salvatore school?” Izzie trails off before breaking into a grin. 

“What?” Casey asks, confused at Izzie’s reaction. 

Izzie full on laughs this time, “I’m just trying to imagine you playing football.”

Casey grunts, placing her head on the locker. _This was not going to end well._

“Hey, girl who bopped the milkshake,” Casey and Izzie look over to the voice and Casey immediately recognizes her. The green-eyed girl from earlier. The one who looked ready to bite Nate’s head off when he ran into her. 

“Hey, new girl,” Casey greets. 

“Casey, right?” She asks before looking at Izzie, “and Izzie, hey.”   
Casey looks at Izzie, who was oddly standing stiffly next to her. It took a second for Casey to connect the dots. 

“You two know each other?” 

* * *

Izzie shouldn’t have been shocked that Penelope and Casey managed to meet without her being the initiator. Their school wasn’t that big to begin with. And yet, when Penelope approached them with such ease, Izzie couldn’t help but turn ice cold. 

This was not going to end well for her. 

“Casey, right?” Penelope smirks and then tilts her head at Izzie, “and Izzie, hey.” Casey gives her a questioning look before turning to face her, “you two know each other?” 

Penelope stays quiet, giving the question to Izzie. 

“Casey, meet my cousin, Penelope Park.”

Casey widens her eyes and then reaches out her hand, “so you’re the infamous cousin I keep hearing about.”  
Penelope smirks at Izzie, “so my cousin has nice things to actually say about me?” 

Izzie shrugs, unable to formulate actual words. 

“It’s nice to finally meet the best friend Izzie won’t stop talking about,” Penelope shakes her hand and Izzie immediately glares at Penelope.

“Aww, you talk about me?” Casey looks at Izzie, who is now flushing red. 

“Yeah, it’s always Newton this and Newton that,” Penelope speaks on her behalf and Casey can’t help but break out into a smile. 

“OKAY, I THINK THAT IS ENOUGH,” Izzie rushes out, “look at the time Penelope, I think we have to head to class now, right? I’ll catch you later Newton!” 

“Um okay? Bye!” Casey waves to the two of them. 

Izzie grabs her cousin’s arm and drags her into the other direction. 

“Bye Casey!” Penelope waves, allowing herself to be pulled into the wrong direction. Once they were a hallway away Penelope stops her. 

“Okay Izzie, my next class is actually on the other side of the building.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Izzie scolds, letting go of Penelope’s arm. She was unable to keep her cool. 

“I was being friendly Izzie,” Penelope explains. 

“Whatever I said when we were drunk, I didn’t mean it.” Izzie sputters out, “I was drunk and confused and it shouldn’t matter anymore because Casey has a boyfriend. So, whatever you are trying to implicate, it’s not true and it’ll only make things worst so please stop. Better yet, just leave Casey alone.” 

_She has a boyfriend_, which translated as keep as much distance between her and Casey to where it didn’t affect their friendship. 

Penelope steps forward, “Izzie… I’m sorry.” 

Izzie pulls away, taking a step back from Penelope, “It’s fine, I’ll just see you later P.”

Penelope’s defeated eyes bore into Izzie as she walked away. 

As Izzie continued to her next class, she couldn’t help but feel guilty for snapping at Penelope. It wasn’t Penelope’s fault for only knowing as much as she knows. It was her who was unable to be honest with her cousin. It was her who ran away each time the chance of talking about Casey was brought up. 

The sight of Penelope and Casey terrified her because what if Penelope said something that scared Casey off. There was much about that drunken night that Izzie couldn’t recall. She knew what she told Penelope but she was scared of the things she didn’t remember telling her. What if Casey found out the truth and never wanted to speak to her again?

Izzie didn’t even know her own feelings. In fact, she didn’t have time for feelings. Everything she did at Clayton mattered. She didn’t have time to worry about girls or drama. 

The last thing she needed was something to complicate her scholarship here and her friendship with Casey. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally i was thinking writing some haya in but jaya or mosie potential?? LOL i know they interacted like once during the show but don't worry posie endgame... unless? 
> 
> also ooop there is its Penelope and Casey meet up!! lmk how u think c:


	6. what's up crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> where my HIZZIE warriors at? this one's for u c:

Lizzie nervously approaches the large brown door, which felt larger in comparison to her own door. In her hands held the bright yellow jersey. 

_Damn it Josie_, she thinks to herself. She really needed to work on not finding herself in situations like these. 

_Breathe, you can do this. It's just Hope. _

She lifts her empty hand, prepared to knock on the door, right before it opens revealing a beautiful tiny red-headed girl. 

Hope Andrea Mikaelson. 

Lizzie’s heart stops and starts again. Right in front of her was the girl who she despised most of her life, only to realize she never actually hated her. In fact, she admired her. The girl who she thought would only bring upon rage and jealousy, brought nothing but comfort and peace. When things started to spiral for Lizzie, Hope was there.

Hope was _always_ there. 

“Lizzie?” Hope exclaims, baffled, “what are you doing here?” 

“Hope, hi,” Lizzie manages, her nerves beginning to get the best of her. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?” Hope draws, looking intently at Lizzie. 

Lizzie’s mouth goes dry and she ends up only being able to smile crazily at Hope, “erm actually class ended a few minutes ago and I needed to talk to you.” 

“Is everything okay?” Hope asks, concern now spreading across her face. 

“Of course it is, why wouldn’t it be?” Lizzie says, unable to get the words she wanted to say out.

_Just spit it out already._

“Lizzie?” Hope asks again, this time, placing her hand on Lizzie’s arm. 

Lizzie jolts at the contact, taking a step back. God, she hated how nervous she became around Hope. And it all started with Josie finally admitting her previous crush on the girl, which led to her putting a wrench in their friendship.  
However, this past summer, Hope has been nothing but perfect, kind, and amazing. 

Lizzie catches herself peering into Hope’s comforting eyes, ones that were filled with worry right now about. 

“Lizzie?” Hope repeats herself, unsure of what to do. 

Lizzie exhales, “okay so I’m actually here to confess something. It’s not that bad or maybe it is and maybe you’ll hate me but you need to know. Basically, I may have accidentally but not really signed you up for a flag football game against Clayton this upcoming weekend,” Lizzie rushes out, “and before you say no, I have a few things I brought to convince you. First, we have upgraded jerseys, here’s yours,” Lizzie hands over the yellow jersey. 

Before Hope could respond, Lizzie continues, speaking faster than usual. 

“Second of all, you have first pick of the positions. I suggested you have QB1, because it’s you and if you were to go for any position, that would be your first pick. But then Josie made a good point about you being the fastest one on at the school so she suggested linebacker and I can’t help but agree because you’re amazing and you’d be amazing at both, unless you want QB then it’s all yours.” 

Lizzie stops in her tracks, eying Hope’s face with wide eyes, “but if you really don’t want to do it, I completely understand and I will ask dad to remove your name from the roster and I won’t bother you again and-”

Hope stops her by leaning forward, capturing her lips in a kiss. 

Lizzie hesitates for a second before naturally leaning into the kiss, feeling the warmth spread through her skin. As soon as her mind registered with her mouth, she felt fireworks. Not like she has before. Not with Rafael, MG, or even Sebastian. With Hope, it felt right. 

Lizzie’s arms circled around Hope’s waist, pulling her closer. It felt as if the floodgates had opened and now she never wanted to stop. Until it did. 

Hope pulled away first, causing Lizzie to stumble back, receiving a mild case of whiplash. 

“Wow,” Lizzie whispers, struggling to catch her breath or better yet, pull herself together. 

Being dazed apparently did not go well in Hope’s book because before Lizzie could come up with a proper response, Hope had already entered full on panic mode. 

“Oh my God, I am so sorry Lizzie,” Hope starts to apologize, her cheeks flushed red. “I don’t know what came over me. You were rambling again and your lips looked so, and I should’ve waited, I shouldn’t have, I am so sorry. You should just go-” 

Lizzie doesn’t know what comes over her, as she’s never had real confidence when it came to people she crushed on, but seeing Hope be so vulnerable and scared over this moment, all she wanted to do was make sure the blue-eyed girl knew how much she meant to her. 

Lizzie lifts her hand to touch Hope’s face, bringing her beautiful blue eyes into view. 

“Please don’t ever apologize for doing that,” Lizzie earnestly states, her eyes radiating at the sight of her. 

“You’re not mad?” Hope questioned nervously and Lizzie shakes her head. 

“I could never be mad at you Hope,” Lizzie admitted, “in fact I really want to kiss you right now.” 

Hope smiles, “then kiss me again Saltzman.” 

Lizzie this time leans in and captures Hope’s lips. Their lips moved harmoniously, finding rhythm within one another instantaneously. It’s as if they’d been doing this forever or better yet, they would be doing this for the rest of their lives. Eventually, they both pulled away, with Hope giggling and Lizzie thinking it was the best sound she’s heard in ages. 

They grow silent for a few seconds before Hope breaks out into a wide grin. 

“So, what’s this about a flag football match against Clayton?” 

* * *

For the next three days, Izzie avoids Penelope like she’s the plague, and Penelope has no idea how to fix it. 

She’s spent the past half of the week staying at her old home and whenever she would run into her at school, Izzie would walk in the opposite direction. 

At this point, it was starting to become more irritating than it was upsetting.

It wasn’t until she ran into Casey in the cafeteria, where it seemingly grew worst. 

“Penelope, hey,” Casey greets, placing her tray right next to the green-eyed girl, “where’s Izzie?” 

Penelope smiles in return and shrugs, “to be real with you, I haven’t seen her since Monday.”

Casey raises her eyebrows, “is everything okay?” 

Penelope sighs, “I think we’re fighting right now.” “So you’re the reason Izzie’s being so hard on us this past practices?” Casey jokes, causing Penelope to laugh. 

“I’m sure you two will figure it out,” Casey reaffirms, “if there is one thing I know about Izzie, it’s that family is important to her.” 

Penelope hums in agreement, one can only hope. 

“You know what could help?” Casey suggests, “you and Izzie signing up for this year’s annual flag football match against the Salvatore school.” 

_The Salvatore school, why did that place sound so familiar?_

“I don’t know if Izzie would be into that…” Penelope trails off. She didn’t want to do anything that could remotely set off her cousin, much more than she had already done. 

“How about I run it by her first and if she says yes, then I’ll immediately put your name down as well?” 

Penelope contemplates this. If Izzie were to say yes, then this could give them a chance at bonding. 

“Yeah, sure,” Penelope agrees, “if Izzie says yes then I’ll do it as well.” 

Casey beams, “perfect! I’ll let you know then!” 

* * *

The following afternoon, Casey had invited Izzie to come over and hang with her and Evan. She needed to find a way to convince Izzie to sign up for this stupid flag football game. 

As she downed a bag of Cheetos, she thought of the ways she could possibly bribe her. 

“My mom had another headache this morning, which meant I had to get all three kids ready for school,” Izzie complains. 

“Hmm.” Casey listens intently, _maybe now wasn’t the right time_. 

“This…” Izzie pulls on her white uniform with a faint green stain, “this is baby barf.” 

“Ew,” Casey states, “what are you doing at home anyways? I thought you stayed in the dorms with Penelope.” 

Izzie quiets down, “yeah, about that. I’m not exactly speaking to her right now.” 

Before Casey could further ponder why, Evan reappears, “Cheetos,” he excitedly claims, reaching over to grab a few. 

“Honestly, I just need to get done with school and move far, far away,” Izzie states. 

“Where would you go?” Casey asks. 

“New Orleans,” Izzie smirks and all Casey could think about was, damn interesting choice. “Barcelona. What’s the furthest place from here?”

Casey laughs, “Mars? Oh, this is fun. Where would you go? Name three places.” 

“Um…” Casey swallows the remaining of her Cheetos before answering, “Dublin, cause Irish accents.”

“Oh yeah,” Izzie agrees. 

“San Francisco and Cape Town.”

Evan starts laughing, capturing both girls attention, “Cape Town? I think you mean Cape Cod. Cape Cod.” 

Casey stares at him, baffled, “no, the one in South Africa.” 

“Oh. Oh, right, yeah, yeah, I know that. That’s uh,” Evan leans over to grab his drink. Casey wonders, where would Evan go? “Where would you go, three cities?” Casey eagerly questions Evan. 

“Three?” Evan clarifies, clutching the drink in his hand, “Um, maybe Providence.” 

“What?” Izzie narrows her eyes. 

“Yeah,” Evan shakes his head, taking a sip of his drink, “Providence is nice.” 

“Dude, that’s like two hours from here,” Casey thinks to herself. Out of all the places in the world, there was no way that Evan would settle on Providence. 

_There was just no way. _

* * *

Izzie doesn’t mean to judge when Evan gives his answers. She couldn’t help the way her face turned when he talked about going to Providence. 

_Couldn’t be me_, is all she could think to herself. 

After leaving Casey’s house, Izzie decides to return back to her dorm. Between her mom and her throbbing headache, she knew that her three siblings would be staying with her grandparents tonight. This gave her a chance to catch up on some homework as well as look into colleges. 

All this talk of leaving this town got her excited. She needed to get out. After doing some thorough research, she devised a plan. One that involved Casey, but nonetheless it was a plan to get her out of this small town. 

“Izzie, can we talk?” 

Izzie looks up to find Penelope clutching a bag in her hands. Izzie couldn’t help but feel guilty. She had no real reason to be upset with Penelope, and she knew that. The only reason she’s been avoiding her was because she was too prideful to apologize. 

“Yeah, sure,” Izzie responds, shutting down her laptop, “what do you want to talk about?” 

Penelope places the bag on her bed, “I wanted to apologize.” 

Izzie leans over to peer into the bag, her eyes widening, “is that a Clayton jersey?” 

“Look Iz, let me start off with saying I’m sorry for what happened with Casey. I didn’t know what I said would affect you like this. I promise I’ll stop the teasing and I won’t mention you around Casey. I just want you to know that I’m here for you, for whatever it is you may need.”

Izzie nods her head, “and yes, this is a Clayton jersey, I don’t want you to have to use your running one for when we play football against the Salvatore school.” 

“Wait, what?” Izzie shakes her head, “did you just say ‘we’?”

Penelope explains Casey’s offer and Izzie can’t help but laugh. There was no way in hell she was going to play football, much less with her school. 

“Yeah, there’s no way that’s happening P,” Izzie puts the jersey back into the bag and places it on the floor. 

“Casey seemed really adamant about us joining,” Penelope points out, “I told her that I’d only do it if you were doing it as well.” 

“Well, in that case, looks like we’re missing out.” 

Penelope laughs, “well you better tell Casey that before she officially puts us on the roster.” 

Izzie groans, “great, another conversation I have to deal with.” 

Penelope laughs and Izzie can’t help but soften, “I’m sorry too P, for everything. I shouldn’t have blown up on you like that. I was the one avoiding my problems and taking it out on you was not cool.” 

Penelope looks at her and smiles, “it’s no problem Iz, if anything we can blame our inability to communicate on our Park genes.” 

Izzie laughs and they fall back into routine, the air seemingly clearing between them.   
The following morning, Izzie wakes up in a good mood and the first person she goes to see is Casey. It’s right after the first warning bell has rung, Casey walks through the front doors when Izzie finds her. 

Izzie, bright eyed and smiles, rushes up to her, getting very up close and personal. 

“What’s up, crazy?” Casey asks. 

“I figured it out. I know how to get us out of here.” 

“Clayton?” Casey questions, “I don’t have a problem getting out. It’s staying in I have trouble with.” 

Izzie scoffs, usually she would be endeared by Casey’s sarcasm but today she was fired up about her plan. 

“Shut up and listen,” Izzie whispers, as if it’s their secret alone, “almost every year UCLA recruits a student from Clayton on a track scholarship. Two years ago, they took three kids.” Casey’s eyes light up, “that’s crazy.” “I know,” Izzie agrees, “and their coach is, like, best friends with Coach Crowley.” 

Casey smugly responds, “Crowley has friends?” 

Izzie deeply sighs, _yeah she was not in the mood to joke_, “Casey, we could go together, the two of us, to California.” 

Izzie watches at Casey contemplates it.

“Wow,” she breathes out. 

“I know, right?” Izzie exclaims, “and this scout is gonna be at regionals in a couple months.”

“Do you think that they’d take us?” Casey asks, unsure. 

“I mean if we train like crazy and get our times down.” Izzie explains, “we’re juniors, this is our chance to impress them.” 

“LA…” Casey breathes, “I don’t know anything about it except that it’s very far away from Elsa.” 

Izzie agrees, “exactly.” 

“You know,” Casey begins, “one way we both could work on our running is through football.”

Izzie raises her eyebrows, _oh here she goes._

“No,” Izzie immediately shuts down. 

“You don’t even know what I’m going to ask,” Casey whines. 

“I am not signing up to play flag football,” Izzie reiterates. 

"But..." Casey sticks out her lip, pouting and Izzie can’t help but want to give in.

_Oh, god, Penelope is never going to let her live this down. _

* * *

When Penelope returns to her dorm, she finds that it is surprisingly empty. She walks over to her bed area, only to find a brown bag with a note on it. 

_Staying over at moms’ place. Had to watch kids last minute. _   
_Also practice starts tomorrow after class. Lmk if u can make it. _   
_\- Izzie_

Penelope looks down and sees the navy-blue jersey Clayton jersey. She shakes her head and smiles before mumbling “whipped.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI. So this was supposed to be dropped tuesday but Runaways announced there last season and it just threw me off a spiral because that show has meant so much to me :( and it just sucks. but here you go! next chapter will be posted very soon. 
> 
> don't worry, the couples will get together soon. i'm just working everything out right now. thank you to those who are around still reading this.
> 
> ALSO ARE WE READY FOR LEGACIES TONIGHT? AHHH. 
> 
> also how we feeling about me adding Hizzie? want more? Less? idk. This was a Cazzie focused ep but don't worry, posie coming in soon, just you wait. 
> 
> as always, comments and kudos are welcomed. much love for y'all.


	7. aye, aye captain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiiii c: this is the longest filler chapter yet.... SO I'M SORRY, no cazzie or posie interaction in this one, but i promise it's coming soon!!

Once the idea of leaving was implanted in Casey’s brain, it was all she could allow herself to think about. 

_UCLA. California. Sun. Pools. Nowhere near Elsa. Freedom._

It all sounded very tempting. And to top it all off, she would be going to college with her best friend. 

It was perfect. 

And yet, Casey felt obligated to run this by Evan. He was her boyfriend and one of the most important person in her life. So, while they sat on her bed, enjoying this slice of delicious smiley pizza, she found the courage to actually tell him. 

“So, um guess what?” she brings the courage to say. 

Evan looks over expectantly, “hmm?”

“I think I might wanna go to UCLA.” Evan wipes his hand, his eyes widening, “what? Really? UCLA in…LA?”

“I know it’s crazy, but Izzie said they recruit kids from Clayton all the time, and if we get our time down on our splits, then maybe we could both go,” Casey can’t help but feel giddy just thinking about it, “I don’t’ know, ever since Izzie said it, it’s just felt right.” 

Evan nods his head, his mouth slightly parting, “wow.”

Casey continues, “and I was thinking that maybe you could come too?”

The thought of having Evan come with her made complete sense. It wasn’t like he was committed to anything here. In fact, in her mind, it was perfect.

And yet, hearing him remain on the fence about the whole situation provided her with a cruel reality check. 

She started to question the actual possibility of her being able to make it to LA. 

* * *

After the day Izzie has had all she could think about was running. Once she left the gym, she immediately headed out to the field, only to find she was more so late than she was on time. She spots Casey sitting on the bench tying her shoes and makes her over to her, clutching onto her gym bag. 

“Hey.” Casey finishes tying her shoe, looking up, “hey.”

“Are you cool with meeting a half hour early to train?” Izzie asks, “we can do extra conditioning and practice passes. We gotta step up our game.” “Yeah, sure. Maybe,” Casey turns to open her backpack, her tone unconvincing. 

Izzie tilts her head, noticing the slight change, “you’re already changing your mind about LA, aren’t you?” 

“No. Um, I ran the idea by Evan.” Casey mentions, “I told him he should come with us.” 

Izzie internally groans. _Seriously, Evan? _

“And he’s not into it?” Izzie guesses. 

Casey looks over, giving a familiar ‘you already know’ face and Izzie nods her head. She knew.

“I’m not surprised. I mean, if we were going to college in Providence,” she jokes, “what does he want to stay here for anyways? What does Evan, like, do?” 

Izzie didn’t mean to come off as judgmental. For her, leaving was always the only option. Staying was something she never once considered because staying would mean being just like her mother, losing to her family, and giving up on the people who relied on her most. She needed to be successful to provide a life for her siblings. 

So, in turn, she had a hard time understanding people who chooses not to do anything with their lives.

Casey flusters up, “I mean, he works at Don’s, and he’s figuring it out.”

_‘Figuring it out’ _

_Sure Jan. _

“Which is code for doing nothing,” Izzie states flatly, internally rolling her eyes. 

Casey stares at her, “I hate you.” 

“I know,” Izzie reaffirms, smirking on the inside. She then leans forward to get up, “come on.” 

Casey immediately stands up, “wait up.” 

They successfully complete a few training exercises before Casey calls for a quick water break. Izzie notices the changes in her performance, especially at today’s practice. 

“Working a bit harder today Newton?” Izzie points out, crouching over to grab her water bottle. 

Casey finishes taking a gulp of her drink, “practice for flag football begins tomorrow and I don’t know what Coach wants me to do but I’m trying to get as much done today.” 

Izzie’s eyes widen as recollection draws upon her, “oh shit, it’s tomorrow?” 

“Yeah, why?” 

Izzie immediately turns to the bleachers and spots Penelope wearing her Clayton uniform, leaning her back against the fence. 

Casey follows her glance and points out the raven-haired girl, “what’s your cousin doing here?” 

“I may have told her that we had practice today,” Izzie shakes her head. _Shit, Penelope is going to be pissed._

Casey laughs, “I wonder how long she’s been waiting there.” 

Izzie groans, “let me go find out. Why don’t you and the girls do a few more laps and then we can end on that note for today.”“Aye, aye captain,” Casey salutes before running off. 

Izzie can’t help but push down the flutters that appear in her stomach as Casey runs off. 

“Hey dork,” a towel is thrown at her face. Izzie pulls it off and sees it’s Penelope approaching her. 

“Hey P, looking great today” Izzie starts, obtaining a scoff from Penelope, “please tell me you haven’t been waiting here that long.” 

Penelope raises her eyebrow, “are you about to tell me that there is no practice today?” 

Izzie gives her a look and Penelope groans, “Iz, I could’ve been at the journalism club’s meeting.” 

“I’m sorry,” Izzie pleads, “how about you let me make it up to you?” 

“How do you plan on doing that?” Penelope challenges. 

Izzie thinks about it before coming up with a great idea, “it’s a surprise. Go home and change, I’ll finish up here and then we can head over.” Penelope sighs, agreeing, “fine, but it better be worth it.” 

“Oh it will be!” Izzie beams, “also, journalism club? Seriously?”

Before Penelope could even come up with a pointed response, she was already making her way to join her team, leaving Penelope to her own defenses. 

* * *

Another hour passes by and the next time Penelope sees her cousin, it’s at the front entrance of their dorm room. 

“Sorry it took a bit longer than expected, the girls wanted to get a bit more in,” Izzie explains, dropping her belongings onto the ground and making her way into the bathroom. Penelope had already changed out of her clothes and into jeans and a black top. She was laying on her bed, scrolling through social media. 

“It’s fine,” Penelope responds, “take your time.” 

Izzie doesn’t take her time and immediately showers and gets dressed in the span of ten minutes. 

“Okay, let’s go,” she beams, grabbing her car keys from the dresser. 

Fifteen minutes later they are sitting in an empty parking lot, in front of a shack-liked building with a bright sign that read out _Coney Iceland_

“Iz?” Penelope raises her eyebrow. 

Izzie gives her a look of contempt and Penelope shuts up and steps out of the car. 

“Penelope Park, I introduce you to the best ice cream shop this state has to offer!” Izzie exclaims entering the small but very cool establishment. 

The moment her nose came into contact with the air inside the building, Penelope could simply taste the sweetness. Something about the freshness in the aroma made her mouth salivate. She wasn’t even craving ice cream at the time. 

“Is that Izzie Park?” a voice cries, following an older lady skipping towards them. Izzie softly smiles and the two reunite in a large embrace. 

“You don’t call, you don’t visit anymore,” the old lady mumbles, gripping onto Izzie, “I was beginning to think I was never going to see you again.” 

Izzie remains silent, allowing the older lady her moment. When she finally pulls away she tilts her head at Penelope, “and who’s your friend here?” 

“Mrs. B this is my cousin, Penelope,” Penelope holds out her hand only to be pulled into a firm embrace. 

When the lady eventually let’s go of her, she turns and excitedly looks at Izzie, “you never mentioned having a cousin that lived nearby.” 

“To be fair, I didn’t know about her till recently,” Izzie justifies and Penelope can’t help but smile nervously. 

“Well any family of Izzie is a friend of mine,” Mrs. B exclaims, “why don’t I give you a few scoops on the house?” “That would be amazing,” Izzie responds.

Mrs. B looks over to Penelope and back to Izzie, “please tell me you have no allergies?” 

Penelope shakes her head, “none at all, thank you.” 

Mrs. B nods her head and walks off, leaving Izzie and Penelope alone. Izzie guides them to one of the booths. 

“So,” Penelope leads, “she’s nice.” 

Izzie nods, “probably the best person I know.” 

Penelope can’t help but pay attention to the detail of this place. The shop itself was borderline empty and the road it took to get here was one of those roads that people don’t usually see and almost always drive past. There was also the sudden shift in Izzie’s stance the moment we entered the place. Penelope couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to why Izzie brought her here and to who exactly that lady was to her. 

“Wow,” Izzie says aloud, breaking Penelope out of her trance 

“What?” Penelope breaks out of her trance, “is there something on my face?”

“Nothing, you just have your thinking face on,” Izzie points out, “just ask me whatever is bothering that head of yours, because from the looks of it you’re dying to know.” 

Penelope shakes her head, “I’m not _dying_ to know, you’re being dramatic. I’m just curious.”

Izzie gives her an exasperated look and Penelope gives in, “okay fine, I’ll bite. The road you took to get here was definitely out of our way and ever since we entered, you just seemed on edge. Out of all the ice cream places we could’ve come to, why here?”

Izzie inhales, taking a long deep breath before breaking out an explanation. 

“My dad used to bring me here when I was younger. And every time we were here, he would tell me stories about his childhood and that this is where his parents took him when they were in town,” Izzie turns her head and scans the wall next to them, before pointing on a picture, “look here.” 

Penelope looks and sees a younger version of her father alongside her uncle (Izzie’s dad) and her grandparents. 

“One day, my dad was unable to pick me up from the bus and my mom was working. And instead of waiting at the bus stop, I found a way to get here and Mrs. B watched over me. Ever since then, my dad and her became really good friends. Eventually, I would just come here after school or when mom was working an extra shift and dad was out traveling,” Izzie trails off, “but then he got sick and I stopped.” 

Penelope’s heart aches as she witnessed the dejection that Izzie projected while talking about her family. The worst part is, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. She knew her uncle existed, but her father did everything to ensure he kept them out of the family drama. The most Penelope really knew of him was that he left the Park legacy behind him to raise a family and that didn’t sit well with her own father. When her uncle became ill, her dad left for a bit to be there for him, but her father was Park first. 

The fact that she only met Izzie when her father needed something from her felt wrong. She grew up never knowing Izzie, never being allowed the chance to be there for them, especially during a time they needed family most. 

It angered Penelope. 

How could her parents do this? 

“The reason why I brought you here today is because I told you I’d make it up to you and-” Izzie pauses as Mrs. B appears with two cups in her hands. “What better way to say sorry than offer the best ice cream, hands down, that you’ll ever try in your life,” Izzie finishes, salivating at the sight. Mrs. B gives her a goofy grin and places the cups in front of the two girls. 

“Made it just the way you like it,” Mrs. B winks at Izzie, “hope you two enjoy.” 

The moment the spoon entered her mouth, Penelope felt as if she was tasting heaven. It was so creamy and sweet, it made her mouth form a smile. 

This really was the best ice cream ever.   
As the pair divulged themselves into the chocolatey creamy goodness, Penelope couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt bottling in her chest. 

“Seriously Pen?” Izzie speaks up, “you can’t look like that when you’re eating ice cream!” 

Penelope shakes her head, her tone stern “look, Iz.”

Izzie groans, “oh no, you have your serious face on.” Penelope brushes her off, “I’m sorry for how shitty my dad is and for being from a family of monsters. And for not being there for you, especially when your dad got sick.” 

At the mention of her dad, Izzie’s demeanor took a sudden shift as well. 

“I didn’t bring here you to feel guilty P,” Izzie clarifies, “I brought you here because it’s what my dad would’ve wanted. Because yeah, it sucked that your family completely disregarded my family until it was convenient for them to acknowledge we existed. But, my dad used to talk about your dad all the time and how much this place meant to the both of them growing up. And I know that if he were still here, he would’ve wanted to share that with you.” 

Penelope softens, reaching out to grab her cousins hand. 

* * *

Talking about her father with Penelope felt surprisingly easy. For the longest time, she had repressed her feelings and chose to put all her anger and sadness into running. 

It’s not like her mother made any effort to keep her father’s name alive. 

Izzie knew the risks with bringing Penelope here. She knew the memories it would dig up and she was fully aware of the pain that would arise alongside simply just being here, but she also knew it was what her dad would’ve wanted. He always talked about coming back here with his brother and their family. Being able to reunite with them once again. 

Did it hurt her when her uncle ended up being a class A jackass? Of course it did, but Penelope was not her father. And since they reunited and Izzie found out she wasn’t a complete asshole, she has been wanting to bring Penelope here for the longest time, but kept finding reasons to delay it.

Until today. 

“Thank you for sharing this with me Iz,” Penelope affirms. 

_Thank you for listening_, Izzie thinks to herself, deciding to keep that to herself. They enjoy the rest of their ice cream before it gets late enough that Penelope boldly asks about Casey. 

“So, a little birdie told me that you were thinking of going to UCLA?” 

Izzie flushes red, “please tell me that little birdie doesn’t have your phone number.” 

Penelope grins, “I may break our newly bonded relationship but I am curious about you and Ca-”

“NOPE,” Izzie butts in, “that is enough chitchat for today cuz, don’t you think?”

It wasn’t that Izzie didn’t want to talk about Casey with Penelope, it’s that she didn’t want to talk about Casey period. The last thing she needed was her business being put out there. 

If only it were that easy. 

The following day Izzie woke up early, due to a string of panicked text messages from her younger brother, Javie. As she scrolled through, the only conclusion she could come too was her mom was acting up again. 

_Great. _

Not wanting to wake up Penelope, Izzie sneaks out and makes it to her house, just in time for another one of her mother’s meltdowns.

This time, she knew exactly what to do. Get the kids out. Then leave. 

After a solid thirty minutes had passed by, Izzie managed to be on her way, taking the youngest siblings to her grandparents and then Javie over to his friends house, which was ironically close to Casey’s house. 

Sending a quick text to Casey, only to find out she was on a trip with Evan. 

Before she could debate between the pros and cons, she was already walking up to Casey’s front door. 

Elsa opens the door, smiling brightly, “Izzie, hi.” “Hi, Mrs. Gardner,” Izzie breathes out, “I know Casey isn’t here, but I was in the neighborhood dropping my brother off at his friend’s house so I thought I should come by.” 

Then it hits Izzie, she turns to unzip her backpack, “I accidentally took Casey’s math book the other day.” “Oh okay,” Elsa reaches out to grab the red textbook.

“Yeah,” Izzie nods, “So… I should probably go home.”

_Please don’t make me go home_. She couldn’t go to her mom’s place, she was in a mood. And if she went back to the dorm, she knew Penelope would question everything, curse her cousin’s intuitiveness.

“You know,” Elsa mentions, “we could really use your help. We’re doing this big clothing drive, and you have such a great sense of style. Give us a hand?” 

Izzie brightens up, “okay! Yeah!,” she steps forward into the warm and welcoming home, thankful for any distraction from the impending stress that was called her daily life. 

Luckily for Izzie, Elsa was amazing company. To be fair, she only ever heard about her from a one-sided view, that view being entirely made by Casey. And yet, through all that, Izzie saw right through her. She saw kindness, warmth, and love. Things that a mother should be… things her mother lacked. 

It wasn’t til later in the day where it _really_ started to get to Izzie. 

After Elsa’s friends had left and Izzie was the last to remain, she gazed over the remaining clothes and finds the smallest and most adorable purple cardigan. 

_Oh my god. This had to be Casey’s_, Izzie thought to herself. She picks it up and turns to face Elsa. 

Elsa’s eyes widen upon realization, “I made that.” 

Izzie giggles, “It’s ridiculously adorable,” she looks at it and can only imagine the face Casey had made when being forced to wear it.   
  
Elsa tilts her head, “hmm. Casey refuse to wear it, of course.”

_Of course_, Izzie nods her head. Casey wouldn’t be Casey unless she went against Elsa. 

Elsa then points out, “but she did put it on her stuffed zebra for a while so I consider that a win.” 

“Okay, nope,” Izzie states, “you are not giving this one away,” she folds the tiny sweater and places it on the ‘to keep’ pile. 

Izzie picks up the next shirt and can’t help but smirk, putting it to her chest and looking knowingly at Elsa. 

Elsa sighs, putting a pink sweater to her chest, “oh, I remember that day.” Izzie walks over and takes a seat next to Elsa as she continued with the story, “Casey got in trouble at school for acting out. She was so upset about it. So the next day, I picked her up early from school and I took her to Sal E. Sour Cream, and we had lunch together and it was special, because we could never go there as a family because Sam hated it…” 

Izzie didn’t want to be sad. That’s what she kept telling herself as Elsa recited the story, and yet, she could feel her chest start to tighten.

“You know, because of the lights and the noise and, oh, she was so happy,” Elsa laughs, before noticing how nervous Izzie was acting. 

Izzie was nervously twirling her large hoop earrings before breaking out into tears. Hearing her story felt overwhelming, especially with today. 

“Oh, honey, honey, I’m sorry,” Elsa coos, reaching over to comfort her. 

Izzie sniffles, “no, no, no, it’s okay. I don’t know why I’m crying, it’s so stupid.” 

“No, it’s not stupid,” Elsa rebuttals. 

“I don’t know, I…” Izzie pauses, trying to find the words to express her emotions, somewhere along the lines of want and disappointment, “I guess I just wish I had a childhood like that.” 

Elsa thinks, before looking down, “me too.”

Izzie tils her head, resting it on her arm, allowing Elsa to continue, “growing up, well it wasn’t a great environment.”Izzie can’t help but look down because she understood. 

“I think that’s why I always tried so hard to make it different for Sam and Casey, you know, to give them like the perfect, perfect childhood. I probably went overboard, I mean, I probably still do,” Elsa mirthlessly laughs. 

That’s when realization dawns upon Izzie and she finally understands why Elsa was the way she was. 

Elsa reaches over to run her hand on Izzie’s head to capture her attention, “I’m gonna tell you something that someone had told me. _Our door is always open_. No matter what you need, anything at all, even if it’s a place to stay.”

Then Izzie remembers, she still had Javie to pick up and Penelope to get back too. 

“Thanks,” Izzie genuinely smiles, “but I’m really scared of ghosts, so I don’t think so.” 

Elsa laughs and Izzie proceeds to stand up, deciding she’s overstayed her visit. That should be enough of running away from her problems for one today. 

“Thank you again Ms. Gardner,” Izzie declares, feeling warmth in her heart, “but I should get going now.”

“Are you sure?” Elsa deliberates, “Casey should be back soon and I’m making pasta for dinner tonight.”

Izzie shakes her head, grabbing her belongings, “I still have to pick up Javie and take him home, so maybe next time?”

Elsa accepts, walking Izzie to the door, “I’ll see you around then Izzie?” 

Izzie nods before heading out. 

By the time she returns to the dorms, Penelope was fast asleep. She changes out of her clothes and into some pajamas. Before exhaustion can fully take her, her phone vibrates. 

** _From Newton_ **   
_U hung out with Elsa today? Also, why did you give me your math book? _

Izzie looks over to her desk and groans, she must’ve grabbed the wrong one when she was leaving today.   
  
**_Izzie_**  
_U mean the superior Gardner? Also, I must’ve gotten them mixed up. I’ll give u the right one tomorrow. _

**_Newton_**  
🙄🙄  
_let’s be real the superior Gardner is Edison._

Izzie giggles, well, she wasn’t wrong. She sends a turtle pic in response. 

** _Newton_ **   
_anyways, guess what I did today? I helped steal a dog named Dewey after yelling at Evans father. And that isn’t even the crazy part. Bc you’re never going to guess what happens next_

Izzie smiles, glancing at the clock that read _12:52AM_. She knows she should be sleeping, especially for the ass whopping practice that was going to happen tomorrow, and yet, when it came to Casey, she knew sleep could wait. 

** _Izzie_ **   
_let me guess, you got caught? _

** _Newton_ **   
_. . . _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah, we got a little bit of cazzie texting but this filler chapter was meant to be pointless. i genuinely wanted to include this chapter so i could write Izzie some depth and more into the whole Izzie and Penelope as cousins thing. i want them to be best friends because it's what they deserve LOL. 
> 
> also i'm trying to stray away from the casey x evan thing but i had to include that scene to lead into the izzie scene, for those who may not watch the show. a lot of dialogue i get from them! 
> 
> so yes, pls give me your input. did you like this? should i not do this anymore LOL. lmk!!
> 
> once again, i'll see y'all on the flip side.


	8. will you come to the game?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HIII so 2 things, first, Maya's last name was originally Fell but I saw a twitter post saying it was Machado? idk i just went ahead and changed it LOL. second, i do have a maya centered chapter included here. idk how i felt about it. i pulled a all-nighter, so this is a 5-6am chapter built on pure exhaustion, i hope you all enjoy c:

“RISE AND SHINE JOSETTE,” Lizzie exclaims, sliding their curtains wide open. Lizzie gleamingly stares into the distance, enticing a groan from her twin sister.

Josie shakes her head and pulls the covers over her face to shield the light that was seeping through. 

_Just five more minutes. _

“COME ON JO,” Lizzie repeats, nudging her sister, “WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE.” 

Josie tiredly musters all her strength to push her sisters hands away from her. 

“JO,” Lizzie reaffirms, this time, pulling the covers off Josie’s face, only resulting in an irritated grunt from the brown-haired girl. Josie turns to her side and notices the time. 

_5:48AM_

“Lizzie it’s five in the morning,” Josie protests, her eyes attempting to adjust to the newfound brightness. 

“And?” Lizzie crosses her arms, “we all agreed to start practice this week, so if you don’t have your ass up in five minutes, I _will_ drag you out of that bed.” 

“I’m sure when we all agreed to practicing, it didn’t involve being rudely awaken at five in the morning Liz,” Josie complains. Lizzie brushes her off, throwing a pair of running shorts at Josie’s face. 

Josie glares at her twin, before forcing herself to get up from her bed and change into comfortable workout clothes. 

“See? That wasn’t too hard,” Lizzie struts out their front door making sure Josie begrudgingly follows.   
  
When they make it to the field, Josie immediately spots MG standing idly on the bleachers next to Kaleb who, for the most part, looked half asleep. 

“MG! Kaleb!” Josie waves enthusiastically, walking over to where the pair was standing. 

“Damn girl, do you not know what time it is?” Kaleb grumbles, rubbing his temples together. 

Josie rolls her eyes and faces MG, who looked as equally as tired, “where is everyone?” 

MG yawns, “I didn’t even know practice was happening until Lizzie came barging into our dorm at five in the morning.” 

Before Josie could respond, she hears the slight buzz of voices only to find Rafael, Jed, Alyssa, and Hope walk onto the field. Once Hope entered Lizzie’s vision, Josie could see her literally brighten up. 

And to think she thought it would be better when they actually started dating, but boy was she wrong, the love sick eyes only grew. 

“OKAY EVERYONE LISTEN UP,” Lizzie belts out, capturing everyone’s attention, “we have precisely three weeks before our first the flag football game against Clayton Prep. Need I remind you, this is our first time playing against that school, which means we need to show them exactly what we are made of. And because of that, I declare practice every morning until the day before game night!” 

Everybody but Hope groans. Josie watched as Hope endearingly observed as Lizzie began assigning everybody into groups, making Jed, Rafael, Alyssa, and Hope captains. Gross.

Ugh, if only Maya was here to see this. 

“Josie, Kaleb, and MG, you’ll be with Hope.”

“Next time a Saltzman twin asks me for a favor, remind me to say no,” Josie hears Kaleb whisper to MG, who nudges him softly. 

Josie stifles a laugh, earning herself a glare from Lizzie.

She could already see it now.

_This was going to be a long two weeks. _

* * *

Maya Machado is not in love with Josie Saltzman. 

Or that’s what she had to remind herself. 

When Maya first moved to Mystic Falls, she never thought that this preppy brown-haired girl would play such a huge role in her life. It wasn’t until after she had gotten over her disgustingly obvious crush on Hope Mikaelson. 

The funny part of the entire story was that she had met Josie at the time she still harbored feelings for Hope. Maya had just started working at the Mystic Fall Diner, all thanks to her mother for forcing her into the job in the first place. She had worked primarily with Hope, allowing herself the chance to get to know the smaller girl. Over time, she understood that her feelings for her shifted into a more caring friendship type feeling. 

The night she met Josie, it was during a slow shift. The brown-haired girl apprehensively approached her asking for another slice of cake. Maya glanced over to where Hope and Lizzie was and immediately got the hint (it was also in that moment where she confirmed her feelings for Hope were strictly platonic). Maya then offered Josie an out. With Ethan and Landon being readily available, she asked for her break and convinced Josie to trust her. She took Josie to the rooftop of the Mystic Falls Diner and they immediately hit it off. At the end of the night, Josie thanked Maya for being the best distraction there was. Over time, the two of them had grown quite close that Hope started to notice. 

“So, Josie?” Hope teases, watching the two Saltzman sisters leave the diner.   
Maya rolls her eyes, “and Lizzie?”

Hope flushes red, throwing a towel at Maya’s face, mumbling a ‘shut up’ before leaving to go clean the other tables. 

After they finish closing, Maya and Hope walk back to their cars. 

“You know that Jo’s pansexual, right?” Hope mentions.

Maya raises her eyebrow, “are you trying to insinuate something Mikaelson?” 

“I’m just saying, it’s never wrong to shoot your shot,” Hope shrugs, “at least you know you have a shot.” 

Maya hears the sadness in her voice, “if this is about Lizzie, I’m telling you, that girl is into you.” 

Hope brushes her off, “no, there’s no way. She’s so _straight_.” 

Maya shakes her head, “and you’re so annoying, goodnight.”

And with that, they end the conversation about her and Josie. Or so she thought. It wasn’t until three weeks after that conversation where Hope creates a proposition. 

“You should tell Josie how you feel,” Hope blurts out one day, holding a large crate of lettuce. 

“And you should learn to mind your business Mikaelson,” Maya rebuttals, walking away from the red-headed girl and towards the truck to continue unloading the produce.

Hope trails behind, “I mean it Maya, you have a real genuine chance, you should take it!” 

Maya shakes her head, grabbing another crate and walking away. 

“You know we’re both scheduled till closing,” Hope reminds her, “you aren’t getting rid of me that easily.”

“I can still _easily_ ignore you,” Maya refutes, placing the bin onto one of the shelves. 

“How about I make you a deal?” Hope suggests. Maya shrugs, walking away again, “MAYA,” Hope growls, following behind. 

“If I tell Lizzie how I feel, you have to tell Josie the truth,” Hope rushes out, breathing heavily. 

Maya sends her blank look, “you know what, fine, whatever, now shut up and help me finish unloading the produce.” 

The only reason Maya agreed was because she knew Hope wouldn’t be able to do it and it got her to shut up for a bit about the whole Josie thing. For the next few months, Maya doesn’t think about it, nor does she worry about rushing to tell Josie the truth because, because Josie never showed interest in anybody around town. Not until the green-eyed girl appeared. Much of her actions that night was questionable. Pushing Josie to speak to the girl was the first mistake. Watching Josie spend the rest of summer waiting on the girl was her second mistake. It pained Maya to see Josie be ghosted and yet she couldn’t help but feel a bit of relief. And ever since she told Josie to move on from the girl she’s known for two minutes, she can’t help but actually feel closer to Josie. 

And then Hope Mikaelson had to go and ruin it. 

“Guess what I did,” Hope sings, walking into the diner. 

Maya had just finished reloading the drafts to care about what Hope had to share. 

“Looks like you have to tell Josie how you feel,” Hope says cheekily. 

Maya freezes, “no, you didn’t.” Hope has this grin that turns Maya’s stomach the wrong way, “but I did Ms. Machado. And now it’s your move.” 

As if on cue, Josie walks into the diner, looking a bit more jaded than usual. Hope notices this and nudges Maya. 

And just like that, they were sitting the middle of Don’s Pizza Parlor, mid traffic rush and all Maya could think about was how cute looked sitting in front of her, chowing down the pizza as if it were the only meal she’s had for days. 

“She made you do what now?” Maya exclaims, intrigued in the story that Josie was sharing. 

“Burpees Maya!” Josie whines, “She made us do fifty burpees! And I thought teaming up with Hope would be much worst, but I was severely wrong. Alyssa Chang is beast when it comes to working out.” 

Maya couldn’t help but be enamored by her story, or by the girl telling the story. Just the thought of seeing Josie work out…

“Will you come to the game?” Josie asks, breaking Maya from her trance. 

“Huh?” 

“The game against Clayton, it’s in two weeks!” Josie exclaims, “you’ll be there, right?” 

“Yeah, of course,” Maya agrees. For Josie, _anything._

“Perfect, I’ll make sure Lizzie saves you and Ethan a seat, with Landon playing and all,” Josie’s stomach grumbles and she sends Maya a sympathetic look, “I am starving so I’m going to go grab another slice of pizza, did you want any more?” Maya contemplates, before nodding her head, “yes, I’ll take two more slices with garlic bread, please.” 

* * *

“Hello, welcome to Don’s Pizza Parlor, my names Evan,” the tall blonde cashier smiles widely at Josie, “how can we serve you today?”

“I’ll take two slices of Hawaiian and two veggie pizzas please,” Josie looks around for garlic bread.

“Will that be all for today?” Evan asks, punching into the cash register. 

“And an order of garlic bread please,” Josie adds on, her stomach jumping at the thought of more food. 

It was in this moment she regretted asking her sister to switch from Hope’s team to Alyssa’s team. Honestly, she was better off joining Jed and the lacrosse squad. They didn’t look as dead as she felt post practice. Not to mention she had school afterwards. 

To say the least, she was exhausted. 

When Maya asked to hang out, every muscle in her body told her to say no, but she couldn’t deny her craving of pizza. And so, here she was. 

“You can go back to your table and we’ll bring the food out to you when it’s ready,” Evan states, sending her a wide smile. 

_Great, he must’ve seen just how tired and awful she looked today._

Josie decides she doesn’t care what other people think and nods her head, turning to walk back to her table before something catches her attention. Her heart spikes at the precise moment the door opens and she comes face to face with the familiar green eyes she assumed she’d never see again.

Penelope _freaking_ Park. 

* * *

It didn’t take much for Izzie and Casey to convince Penelope to come to this new pizza place that Casey’s boyfriend worked, Don’s or something like that. 

After their first practice, Penelope surprisingly had only gratitude for her parents for forcing her to play volleyball competitively, because if she had gone into that practice with no experience whatsoever, it wouldn’t have been much worse than it really was. 

Most of the day was spent doing warm-ups, stretching, running laps, and not once did they touch a football. 

So, when Casey asked if we wanted to grab an early dinner, Penelope jumped at the idea. 

When Penelope entered the pizza place, she didn’t think that the first person she made eye contact with was the last person on earth she thought she would ever run into again. 

However, she could never forget those dark brown eyes and that amazing jawline, like wow she was truly the most beautiful woman she has ever laid her eyes upon. Maybe she should just go over there and-

“Penelope,” Izzie’s voice brings her out of her thoughts and she breaks eye contact with her to face her cousin, who was attempting to pull her away from the door, “you’re blocking foot traffic.”

“Oh shit, sorry,” Penelope mumbles, moving away. The next time she looks in that same direction, the girl was gone and she was being pulled into another conversation. 

“B-but I need someone with me. Preferably someone whose sanity is in check. It can’t just be me,” Casey whines. 

“What’d we miss?” Izzie asks.   
  
Evan looks sympathetically at Casey before responding, “Casey’s having a dinner with Sam and Paige tomorrow tonight but I’m scheduled to work.”

“This means, I’m going to have to deal with this solo,” Casey cries. 

Immediately Penelope comes up with a solution, “why not take Izzie?” 

Izzie and Casey both turn to look at Penelope. 

“I don’t think we’ve met,” Evan breaks the silence, “I’m Evan.” 

“Penelope,” she smiles, “Izzie’s cousin.”

“Ah, you’re the cousin I keep hearing so much about,” Evan smile widely. Penelope nods her head before turning her attention back on the quiet girls, ignoring Izzie’s not so subtle glares. 

“Anyways, Izzie is free tomorrow night,” Penelope continues, “I’m sure she’d love to accompany you and if you haven’t noticed, she’s makes for wonderful company.”

“Penelope,” Izzie scolds. 

Casey doesn’t even hesitate, “no, Penelope is right. You’d fit amazing with everybody. Sam already likes you. This is perfect. Izzie, would you be willing to be my date to dinner tomorrow night?” 

Izzie flushes a light rosy pink, giving a look that Penelope immediately recognizes.

“Yeah, sure,” Izzie agrees, “I’d love that.” 

Penelope smiles at the moment unfolding in front of her, before her attention is quickly smitten by the brunette who has been haunting her thoughts for the past month. 

“I’ll be right back,” she mumbles, walking in the direction she last saw the girl. 

“Penelope?” she hears Izzie call out but ignores her. She eventually makes it to the middle of the place before she completely loses her. Why was it so busy in here right now?

“Penelope,” Izzie walks up to her, “is everything okay?” 

“Yeah, I thought-” Penelope stops herself, “I just thought I saw someone I knew, but it’s not them.” “Oh okay,” Izzie accepts, “well we already ordered, our tables are over there though,” Izzie points to the table on the other side of the building, near the stairs. 

“Yeah, okay,” Penelope agrees, “I’m just gonna head to the bathroom to wash up.” 

“Okay,” Izzie says, “by the way, thank you for earlier.”

Penelope can’t help but grin, “what do you mean?” 

Izzie rolls her eyes, “just go wash up and then you can join us.” 

Penelope sticks her tongue out in response. She then made her way to the restroom area. As she pushed forward the door was immediately opened causing Penelope to run into the person standing in the way. 

“Jesus… do you not look where you’re going?” the voice mumbles. 

Usually Penelope would exchange her version of words but it’s not every day you run into the girl you’ve been wanting to see for the past month. 

“You,” she mumbles, a bit dazed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOOK, i don't mean to make these crack ships but THEY JUST FLOW. and 5am rayray was really into it, so theres no going back now. i was thinking of including some haya but hizzie excellence so i introduce you jaya orrrr mosie?? idk, i don't event think they have ship name whatsoever. so i'm going with jaya, which i personally think has much more potential than jandon HONESTLy. but to each their own. also i kinda included jaya because i didn't want to include jandon LOL (the angst has to come from somewhere) 
> 
> to my american readers, happy thanksgiving y'all. lets not forget the real reason we celebrate this holiday. fuck cristopher columbus. but since i'm such a sap, i just wanted to say i'm thankful for those who read this and consistently comment. u truly inspire me to continue writing. and for those who dont' comment but still read and enjoy it, i'm writing for you too. 
> 
> next up POSIEEEE INTERACTIOn. i know i've been stringing y'all along but it's comingggg. also izzie x casey dinner too!! 
> 
> as always, i love you all. pls stay safe, drink water, eat good food, and just stay awesome.


	9. i lost your number

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO MY LOVELIES, 
> 
> i am so sorry for the wait!! 
> 
> more notes and an actual explanation down below c: hope you enjoy the chapter! 
> 
> slight tw//anxiety (wrote this part from experience)

“Jo!” Maya waves her hand, attempting to capture Josie’s attention. Josie immediately breaks eye contact with the green-eyed girl and turns her attention onto Maya, scurrying back to her table. 

“Are you okay?” Maya questions, “you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

_Might as well have. _

“I’m fine,” Josie shakes her head, consuming a large gulp of water, “actually, I really need to go to the bathroom!” 

“Okay?” Maya raises her eyebrow, not believing the brunette girl. However, before Maya could ask any questions, Josie was gone. 

_Breathe_, she reminds herself. It’s not like she purposely ghosted the girl. It was an honest accident that any person could find themselves in. If anything, it was Lizzie’s fault. 

Josie splashes some water on her face. _Talk to her_. Yeah, because that worked out perfectly the first time. _Okay, how about we apologize?_

“Yes,” Josie mumbles to herself, “apologizing. That sounds better.” 

_Unless the girl didn’t care. _

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Josie talks to herself, looking at her figure in the mirror. Suddenly, she was picking herself apart. She couldn’t help but notice the dark circles forming under her eyelids, a result from all her late-night escapades to the library. 

_She could reject you?_ The little voice in her head reminds her.

“Ugh, this is stupid,” Josie exclaims to herself. Why didn’t she dress up before leaving today? She was wearing one of Maya’s Mystic High hoodies and faded skinny jeans. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she looked ready to fall into hibernation.

In other words, talking to Penelope would be a no. 

_Sounds better. Sounds more reasonable_, the tiny voice in her head agrees. 

Josie stares at herself a bit longer before taking off Maya’s hoodie, revealing a nicer black shirt. She also removes her ponytail, letting her hair flow, mainly because she always thought she looked better with it down. Josie decided she wasn’t going to speak to her, but she couldn’t take any other chances. By that she meant, if she so happened to run into her, it wouldn’t hurt to look presentable. 

“Okay,” she breathes, “much better.” 

Josie folds up Maya’s hoodie and rushes to the door, pulling it open right in time for a body to crash into hers, enticing a world of pain. God, her muscles. 

“Jesus… do you not look where you’re going?” Josie scolds, her body aching in more ways than one. 

When Josie catches a glimpse of familiar green eyes, everything freezes. Her breathing hitches and she can’t help but feel glued to the floor. 

“You,” the green-eyed girl mumbles, taking a step back, a bit dazed from the contact. 

At the sound of her voice, Josie is brought back to reality. 

“Crap, are you okay?” Josie flushes red, “I am so sorry, I was just sore from practice and I didn’t mean to get all sassy with you or anything. I’m sure you looked where you were going. It’s not like you purposely ran into me. It just happened, you know?” 

_Stop blabbing Josie_, her mind screamed at her. Of course this would happen to her. 

The green-eyed girl gazes at Josie, with this quizzical look plastered across her face. It ambiguous, in that Josie couldn’t tell if the girl was upset with her or didn’t care at all for her, which left Josie feeling nervous. She needed to get out of here and fast. 

“I’m sorry again,” Josie mumbles awkwardly, swiftly moving past the girl. 

This nightmare needed to end now. 

“Wait,” the girl calls out, stopping Josie in her tracks. Josie turns around to see her holding Maya’s hoodie.

“You dropped this,” she hands over the black hoodie and for a second their hands touch, before Josie pulls away. A second beats by before it’s way past awkward and onto pure embarrassment. 

“Thank you,” Josie timidly responds. 

Penelope nods her head and they fall into another awkward silence. The chatter from outside started to fade as Josie decided it was now or never. 

“I lost your number,” she blurts out suddenly, “it’s why you haven’t heard from me. I had the napkin in my cardigan and when I went to retrieve it, I’d found out that my twin sister had thrown my clothes into the washer and well, you can guess how that ended.” 

A look of relief flashes across Penelope’s face, before being immediately replaced with a shy smile. It’s a look that made Josie’s heart flip. 

“Anyway, I just wanted you to know that,” Josie reaffirms. 

And yet, out of all the things Josie expected the girl to say to her, the words that followed her pretty lips were not at all what she thought she would ask. 

“Are you free tomorrow tonight?” 

* * *

Penelope was known for being straightforward.

After all, she was a Park. 

And yet, after those five words left her lips, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret. Was she being too forward? All things considered, Josie and her had barely spoken more than a few sentences to one another and yet, here she was, basically asking her on a date. Not to mention, just a few minutes ago, she thought her hope of seeing Josie again was lost. 

Josie’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, “depends on the offer,” her voice was teasing. 

_Interesting._

At least it wasn’t a no. 

“There’s this really nice ice cream place I found the other day,” Penelope explains, “and if it isn’t too bold of me to assume you like ice cream, I’d like to take you there.” 

Josie hesitates and for a second, Penelope grows weary. Which was weird, considering she’s never felt like this before.   
  
“You know what, I’d like that,” Josie shyly responds, which eases all the doubts that were running through her thoughts. 

“Really?” Penelope couldn’t help but feel shocked at how easy this conversation was turning out, “that’s perfect, I can pick you up at seven?” 

Josie’s demeanor suddenly changes, and Penelope grows tense again. 

“Unless, it’s better if we meet somewhere?” Penelope rushes out. To Josie, she was still a stranger and she didn’t want to scare this girl away. 

“How about Mystic Fall’s Diner?” Josie suggests. 

“That works with me,” Penelope agrees, brushing off the slight panic she could hear in Josie’s voice. It was probably just nerves. 

“Perfect,” Josie responds. 

“Perfect indeed,” Penelope admires Josie’s look, taking note of the Mystic High hoodie, which actually made sense. The school was within walking distance of the diner. 

“So, I should probably head back to my table,” Josie nervously laughs, “my friend is probably looking for me right about now.” 

Penelope understands, not realizing she’s been gone longer than usual. Izzie was probably thinking the same thing, especially after the Casey incident. 

“Yeah same, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

“Yup, tomorrow!” Josie reaffirms. Penelope awkwardly salutes, as Josie sauntered away. Once the brunette was out of view, she couldn’t help but excitedly jump up and down. Only to conjure some unwanted attention from a male figure leaving the men’s restroom. 

“What?” Penelope challenges, “can’t a girl be excited in peace!”

The man narrows his eyes before walking away and Penelope’s excitement soon fades as she realizes, she forgot to ask Josie for her number… AGAIN. 

_Tomorrow._

She would see her tomorrow. For some odd reason, Penelope had a feeling that all her waiting was going to be worth it. 

* * *

As Josie walked away from the raven-haired girl, she couldn’t stop the grin appearing from her face. Nor could she control the butterflies evading her stomach. It’s as if the light in Don’s Pizza place lit up brighter after the moment shared with Penelope. 

There was no doubt in her mind that she did the right thing with telling Penelope the truth. And yet, she felt nervous for the date. What if Penelope didn’t end up liking her? Or worst, what if Penelope wasn’t who she said she was and- 

“Here you go,” a voice breaks her thoughts, alarming Josie. She turns around and sees it’s Evan holding boxes.

“Thank you?” Josie accepts them without hesitation before realizing that she was sitting at an empty table. 

Where did Maya go? 

“The extra sauce is already inside the boxes,” Evan explains, “tell your friend we add some extra bread sticks, to make up for the long wait.” 

“Oh, sure,” Josie nods her head, “thank you again.” 

Evan begins collecting the dishware, cleaning the table. Josie checks her phone and sees three missed calls from Maya, as well as a bunch of other notifications from her sister, Hope, and apparently all of Salvatore’s students. 

DID HER SISTER MAKE A GROUP CHAT? 

** _[To: you, Hope-less Mikaelson, MG the G, Ka-luv Hawkins, Alyssa C, Ralfpha, JedTalks, etc.] _ **

** _[From: the bitter half]_ **   
_Greetings fellow Stallions, _   
_As team captain, I am reminding you of tomorrow’s practice. We will begin sharply at 6am. Anyone who is late will be doing extra laps across campus. I expect GREATNESS from all of you. _

_the bitter half named the conversation Super Stallions Squad _

** _[Ka-luv Hawkins]_ **   
_So what I’m hearing is that it’s too late to quit? _

_Ka-luv Hawkins named the conversation Someone Save Stallions Squad _

Josie giggles. Only Kaleb was bold enough to say something back to Lizzie. 

“Hey,” a voice appears. Josie looks up to find Maya standing in front her, “I was looking for you.” 

“Oh sorry,” Josie apologizes, “I was in the bathroom.” 

Maya nods, “huh I was just there, but okay, um so I hate to do this but I actually have to go help Ethan and Landon at the diner, do you mind if we wrap it up here?” 

Josie nods her head, “oh yeah, of course.”

As they walked towards the exit, Josie catches a glimpse of Penelope at her table. Penelope smiles at her and Josie can’t help but wave back. Was it crazy for her to hang out with this stranger? Somebody she’s known for less than a day. 

When she enters Maya’s car, it finally dawns upon her, _shit, she forgot to ask for her number AGAIN_. Groaning internally, she opens her calendar instead and puts a reminder on for tomorrow at six. There was no way she was going to miss that. 

“Jo?” she hears Maya’s voice, causing her to shut off her phone. 

“Hm?” Josie looks up. 

“Nothing,” Maya responds bitterly, her eyes hyper fixated on the road.   
Josie feels guilty for not paying attention, “hey, is everything okay?” 

Maya scoffs, “yeah, of course, why wouldn’t it be?” 

Josie was bewildered at Maya’s sudden change in tone and instead of antagonizing her friend, she decides to apologize instead, “okay fine, I’m sorry for not paying attention and for disappearing on you, I swear I was listening to you.” 

Josie knew it was Maya’s pet peeve when she was attempting to talk to them and they were too busy on their phones. She just got too caught up in her own head thinking about Penelope. 

“It’s not that Jo,” Maya grunts, “just forget it. It’s not like you’d get it anyways.” 

Josie was confused. Okay, so it didn’t involve her. Everything was fine with Maya when they got to the diner. So, what happened between when she left the table to when Maya finally returned back? 

_Ethan_, Josie concludes. That had to be it. Ethan and her must have gotten into something and that’s why she’s forced to go back to work. That’s why she was so upset.

“I do get it,” Josie answers, “I know what it’s like to get into it with a sibling over the phone. Even when they aren’t in person, fighting with them is draining and I completely get it.” 

“What?” Maya tilts her head slightly. 

Josie continues, “you’re just projecting that onto me. And, as much as I don’t particularly like that method of release, I would be lying to you if I said I never did this to Hope or MG. But let me tell you, talking about how you feel is much more convalescing than projecting onto someone else.” “I--” Maya opens her mouth, only to be interrupted again.

“Look Maya,” Josie soothes, “whatever is happening between you and Ethan, remember that you can always talk to me about it. As you know, Lizzie isn’t always the easiest sibling to live with, so if you ever need advice, or even just someone to hear you out, I’ll always be here for you. You’re one of my best friends.” 

At the end of that statement, Maya stays silent, making Josie uneasy. Maybe Maya wasn’t ready to talk yet. 

It isn’t until they pull into her parking spot near the diner, when she finally speaks up. 

“I’ll see you around Josie,” Maya coolly responds, unlocking the door. They both step out of the vehicle and Maya hands over one box to Josie and turns to walk away. 

“Wait,” Josie reaches out to grab onto her arm, only for Maya to flinch, immediately pulling away.

_This was new. _

“Maya?” Josie’s eyes widen as she attempts to ignore the feeling of hurt. She approaches Maya again only to see the black-haired girl was tearing up. 

Too afraid to touch her, Josie walks up closer to her, “Maya…” she reaches out this time.

But it only makes things worst. Once Maya realizes how close Josie was to her, she steps back.

“I have to go Jo,” Maya croaks, wiping her face, “please, just go home.” 

With that, Maya runs inside, leaving Josie outside with a million piercing questions. 

_What the hell just happened? _

Josie decides to give Maya space, walking over to her car. As she drove back to campus, she couldn’t help but feel guilty. 

As she walked up to her room, a soft buzz captures her attention. She pulls out her phone to open the notification. 

* * *

Hope Mikaelson was happily enjoying the company of her beautiful girlfriend when her phone suddenly goes off. 

“Ignore it,” Lizzie groans, snuggling closer into Hope. This was one of the few times they had the room to themselves. It wasn’t like Josie didn’t know they were dating. In fact, both Hope and Lizzie ran to tell Josie first when it happened. It was that Josie didn’t understand when they wanted to be alone. 

Hope’s phone blares again and this time Lizzie reaches over to grab it before a sullen look appears on her face. 

“Who is it?” Hope was curious. 

Lizzie narrows her eyes before handing over the phone to Hope, “it’s Maya.” 

Hope grabs the phone just as the ringing ceases. 

_2 missed calls from Mayan Dimples_

Lizzie rises from the bed and walks over to the door, grumbling. 

“Liz?” Hope calls out, “where are you going?” 

“It seems like you have some business to attend too,” Lizzie shrugs, “just find me when you’re done.” 

Before Hope could protest, Lizzie was out the door. The problem was that Lizzie didn’t like Maya. She was convinced that Maya had a crush on her, which was not true, because Maya likes Josie. 

The thing is, Hope couldn’t tell Lizzie that, because she knew Lizzie would tell Josie and then this would cause a problem for Maya. 

_RING_, her phone goes off again.

Hope immediately answers, annoyed, “Maya, this better be good. You know how Lizzie feels when you call, which would be better if she knew the truth, but she doesn’t. Also, aren’t you supposed to be on your little date with Josie. Isn’t today the day you are supposed to tell her how you feel?” 

“I can’t,” Maya breathes out, her voice slightly higher pitched. 

“Why not?” Hope groans, _here we go again_, “we made a deal Maya, you can’t chicken out on me again…”

“There’s someone else,” Maya interrupts, her voice cracking. 

“What? No there isn’t,” Hope refutes. She made sure of that. According to Lizzie, Josie hasn’t been intimate with anyone since the forced date she had with Landon. Boy, was that a funny mess of a storyline. 

“Are you sure about that Mikaelson? Because I literally just heard them,” Maya explains. 

“What exactly did you hear?” Hope ponders. 

“They’re going on a date tomorrow. Meeting at the diner at 7pm.”

“They’re probably just friends,” Hope concludes, “there was no way Josie would sneak out on a date with someone without telling Lizzie first.” 

“No,” Maya refuses to believe her, “I may have not been able to see any faces and risk Josie seeing me, but I know what I heard Hope.” 

“That makes no sense,” Hope draws out, “who could she be?” 

“Does that even matter?” Maya’s voice was rising, “the point is, she doesn’t feel that way about me.”

“Maya, I’m sure you’re just overanalyzing this,” Hope was not keen on immediately believing Maya. It was not like Josie to do this. If there was a girl, Lizzie would know about it.   
  
“No, you aren’t listening to me” Maya growls. 

“Maya…” Hope starts only to be interrupted by the sound of shuffling. 

“Shit, Josie’s back,” Maya says into the phone, “I’ll call you back later.” 

The call goes dead before Hope could even realize what was happening. 

The next time she hears from Maya again, she is in full tears and it isn’t even Maya’s voice. It’s Landon. 

“Hey Hope,” Landon greets, “Ethan can’t come to the phone right now but he’s asking if you could stop by the diner, Maya’s locked herself into the manager’s room and we can’t get her out.” 

“I’ll be right over.” 

Within fifteen minutes she is at the diner, only to find that Ethan had opened the door using a spare key he retrieved from home. 

“She’s all yours,” Ethan remarks, “by the way, she may have stolen some drinks from the cabinet, so heads up on that.”

Hope takes a deep breath. _Here goes nothing_. 

The conversation starts off mild, with Hope cracking a few jokes. She could hear the Maya slurred some of her words that she was definitely tipsy. 

It isn’t until Hope drops Josie’s name. 

“You know whose fault this is? Yours, Hope,” Maya spats out, her eyes narrowing. Clearly she was upset.

“What?” 

“You’re the one who put all these thoughts in my head,” Maya accuses, “if you had just left me alone, I wouldn’t have been out there looking like a fool, feeling like complete shit, and pining over a girl who clearly never saw me in that way.”

“Maya…” Hope attempts to calm her down. “Just because you get your happy ending, doesn’t mean we all get that.” Maya spats out, “just leave me the fuck alone Hope.” 

With that, Maya walks away, with Ethan running after her. 

Landon reaches out to touch Hope’s shoulder, “hey, it’s not your fault. Maya’s just upset. She’ll come around.” 

Hope knew better than that. She was going to do whatever it takes to make it up to Maya. 

She pulls out her phone and sends a quick text.

** _[To: Jo-sea SaltnPepperman]_ **   
_We need to talk. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY, now that is done and posted. I hope y'all dont hate me or it. 
> 
> this chapter was a bit hard to write because i started to lose motivation in this story. I didn't see a clear ending nor did i see a clear continuation but, i went ahead and wrote this so i hope you enjoyed it. (also to my runaways stans who read this, OUR CHILDREN :( i am truly distraught about it ending and s3 in general and just needed to vent that out because it was also a lowkey reason i have been so MIA. I was just preparing for that season and wooshhh was that something else.)
> 
> OKAY back to the story, how do you feel about Maya x Josie? I feel like like i rewrote this chapter too many times, so i do have different variations that still exists in my drafts LOL. I went with this one because angst, duh. but also josie talking to herself in the bathroom was just written from experiences where i've had legit conversations with myself, i put the slight tw// because i didn't want it to affect anybody in a negative way. It's usually how I deal with stressors and i wanted to portray that. 
> 
> lastly, what do you think hope is going to do? hehehe lmk pls! next update will come faster than this, trust me!


	10. what the hell are you wearing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls don't hate me. but here ya go.

Once Penelope was gone, Casey pulls Izzie to the side, “hey, are you sure you’re cool coming to dinner tomorrow?” 

Izzie nods her head, “of course I am silly! It’ll be fun.” 

“You and I have two _very_ different definitions of fun,” Casey laughs humorously. 

“Oh no,” Izzie becomes slightly worried, “do I need to prepare anything?” 

Casey shakes her head, “no not at all, if anything I should probably prepare you. You obviously already know Sam and I, there is also Paige, Zahid, and…” 

Izzie watches as Casey goes into an explanation about each person, immediately captivated. She didn’t even realize how long Penelope had been gone until she finally reappeared. 

“So where’s Evan with that food?” Penelope asks, “I am starving.” 

As if on cue, a waitress appears holding many platefuls of pizza. Lunch lasts a bit longer than usual, that when they finish, they have a shit-ton of leftovers, all thanks to Penelope. 

“We have so much more,” Casey groans, “I never thought I’d say this, but… I can’t eat another slice.” 

Izzie laughs at Casey’s motion, only to get a subtle smirk from Penelope. 

“We have enough for each of us to take a box home,” Penelope points out. Izzie can’t help but have her first though be about her siblings and how they would love some pizza for dinner tonight. 

“Speaking of going home,” Casey looks at her watch, “I really have to get going before all the stores closes. I need a specific outfit for tomorrow.” 

“There’s a dress code?” Izzie raises her eyebrow. 

“Nope,” Casey singsongs her response, “well yes, but you don’t have to worry about that.” 

“Should I be scared?” Izzie ponders. 

“Unless your name is Paige, you have nothing to worry about,” Casey grins, standing up, “I’ll see you both tomorrow!” 

“Bye!” Izzie and Penelope respond in union as Casey walks away. 

“Should we head out too?” Penelope asks and Izzie nods her head. 

“We just have to make one quick stop,” Izzie states, excited to see the look on her siblings face when she brings this food to them. 

Once they drop off the packages, Penelope drives them both back to campus. Before they settle off into their own corners, Izzie feels a wave of gratitude wash over her. 

“Hey P,” Izzie inquired, “thank you.” 

Penelope was bewildered, before breaking out into a sly grin, “I don’t know for what, but you’re welcome.” 

“Don’t ruin it,” Izzie jokingly sneers, “enough sappiness, go to sleep. Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight Iz,” Penelope responds, “don’t let the bed bugs bite, or should I say the Casey love-bug bite.” 

Izzie throws her pillow at Penelope, “shut up.” 

Izzie falls asleep peacefully for the first time in ages, with the thought of Casey in her thoughts. 

* * *

After finishing lunch with Penelope and Izzie, Casey decides to study a bit before going on a run. The last thing she needed was to let her grades drop because of football practice. 

Once Casey felt as if she’d done enough, she immediately grabs her shoes and rushes out the door. 

_Hills, intervals, hills, intervals_. 

Her body was on fire, but she was so close to home. 

Eventually she approaches the front door, only to run into her dad getting ready to leave. Probably for a night shift. 

“There you are,” her father states, “what the heck happened with your boyfriend today?” 

“What?” Casey thinks to herself, he was at work and everything seemed fine, “wait, I’ve been doing hills and intervals. Intervals on hills. Do I still have legs?” 

Her body was aching. 

“Evan didn’t show up for the ride-along,” her dad states. _Huh?_

“What?” Casey repeats herself. She saw him today. Why didn’t he say something? 

“Yeah, maybe something came up, but I expected a call or something,” her father explains. 

Casey understood, but for some reason couldn’t comprehend it, “that’s weird.” 

“Yeah, and we were ready for him. Chuck even wore his good pants.” 

Casey shakes her head, “man, I’m sorry dad. Something must have happened. I’ll check in with him.” 

“Yeah, do that,” her dad agrees, before seemingly taking off, he stops and turns back, “you’re working hard. I’m proud of you.” 

“Thanks,” Casey smiles, before remembering the situation Evan was in, “damn…” 

She runs upstairs to clean up, before deciding to send a quick text.

** _[To Evan Tuba]_ **   
_Where are you? _

She puts down her phone and Sam appears, talking about the dinner that she had previously read about from an email that Paige had sent her. 

“Now, for dress code,” Sam explains, and Casey can’t help but groan, “Paige was very specific, no tweed.” 

Casey walks away. 

“Casey, no tweed!” Sam repeats, louder. 

With no response from Evan, Casey decides that it shall be a tomorrow problem.

The following morning, Casey heads out early so that she could leave practice early.

It only took two different Goodwill’s for Casey find the best suit that eleven dollars could earn her. With no response from Evan, she decided to call Izzie and explain everything to her. 

“That is so unprofessional,” Izzie states. 

“I know,” Casey agrees, “but he’s not responding so a part of me is still worried.”

“Maybe you should go and see him?” Izzie suggests. 

Casey contemplates that before shaking her head, “no, I have a homework to do before tonight's dinner. What time will you be over?” 

“Penelope is dropping me off tonight, so I’ll be there around six?”

“Dinner starts at eight,” Casey states.

“More time for us to hang out,” Izzie suggests and Casey can’t help but agree. 

“Okay, sounds good! I should probably get some studying in before you get here.” 

“Yeah, me too Newton,” Izzie replies, “I’ll see you.” 

Casey can’t help but feel a bit excited at the fact that Izzie would be joining her tonight. For a second, she almost forgot about the Evan situation. 

** _[To Evan Tuba]_ **   
_Hello???_

* * *

“_More time for us to hang out_,” Penelope mocks as Izzie hung up the phone. 

Izzie rolls her eyes and throws a pillow at Penelope’s head, only missing by half an inch. 

“Where are you even going tonight?” Izzie questions, as Penelope stood in front of her closet. She was torn between wearing something causal and actually dressing up. 

The worst part is, she couldn’t even text Josie because of her inability to ask for a girls number. 

“Just hanging out with a couple of friends,” Penelope lies. Well, it wasn’t a complete lie.

Too bad, Izzie was also a Park and had the skills that allowed to see right through her shit. 

“Oh my god,” Izzie stares, eyes widening, “why am I not surprised? Only you would manage to meet someone this fast. You’ve only been at school for a week now.” 

Penelope gives in and shrugs, “what can I say? It’s the Park in me.” 

Which wasn’t all that false. Her family was known for being notoriously charming with people. It’s why they were in the business industry. 

Izzie rolls her eyes, “at some point, ‘being a park’ is not going to be a valid excuse. Also, please don’t bring whomever or whatever you’re doing back here please.” 

Penelope winks, “no promises.” 

Deep down, she knew that tonight was not going to be like that. She wanted to get to know Josie. Talk to her. There was something about her allure that drew Penelope into her. 

As she landed on the perfect outfit, her gut was telling her that tonight was going to be special one. 

“Do I get to know his name?” Izzie ponders, while Penelope changes into her outfit. Izzie was also raiding her closet, looking for suitable look. 

“Nope,” Penelope moves over to fix up her make-up. 

“That’s not fair,” Izzie whines, “you know about Casey.” 

The moment those words left her mouth, Penelope could feel Izzie tense up. As if this was the first time she had said this out loud. 

Penelope slowly turns around to face her cousin, “so you admit there is a you and Casey.”

Izzie flushes red, realizing her mistake, “no, I mean, you tease me about her.” 

Penelope hums in agreement and continues to finish her make up. Izzie remains quiet and the faint sound of music from next door is what fills the empty gaps of silence. 

Penelope finishes up and walks over to where Izzie was sitting, “hey, when you’re ready to talk about it, I’m here for you.” 

Izzie nods her head, “…okay”

“Also, you should go with the red one. It looks amazing on you.” 

Izzie pulls out the dress, admiring it, “I’ll be right back.” 

When she returns, Penelope helps with her make-up. Within the next hour, both girls were dressed and ready to go. As they left campus, Penelope suddenly felt nervous, which was not typical for her. Before she could go into a full panic mode, she drops Izzie off first. 

“Be here by nine thirty,” Izzie explains. 

“No promises,” Penelope jokes, earning a glare from Izzie. 

With that she speeds off to the diner. When she arrives, it’s 6:48PM.

Okay, so she was a bit early. But like her parents used to say, ten minute early is on time and on time is late. 

Penelope decides to wait in her car, scrolling through social media to ease the stress. 

Twelve minutes go by excruciatingly slow. 

_7:00PM_

Penelope elects to wait outside of her car. The plaza was small enough that she would be easily spotted, with the diner being as bright as it was. She finds a bench within view of the park and diner. Basically, the perfect waiting spot. 

Fifteen minutes go by and Penelope starts to grow weary. Her stomach churns at the thought. 

_It shouldn’t take her this long, right?_

She chooses to allow Josie the benefit of the doubt. Car troubles. Family issues. The possibilities were endless. 

The hour passes by and Penelope grows impatient. 

She looks at her phone time. 

_8:18PM_

_She isn’t coming_, Penelope told herself. And yet, she stayed put. It’s as if she didn’t want to believe she was being stood up for the second time this past month. 

_8:46PM_

_Of course this would happen to her. _

Eventually the clock hit another hour and before she knew it, her phone was buzzing. 

_**Incoming Call**: Izzie P_

“Hello?” Penelope answers, hoping her voice didn’t give her away. The last thing she needed was Izzie getting into her business. It wasn’t like she didn’t trust her cousin, she just didn’t want sympathy for this situation. A situation she kept putting herself in. 

“Hey,” Izzie’s voice is soft and almost broken. 

Penelope knew something was wrong, “could you come get me now?” Izzie asks, stumbling over her words.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in ten,” Penelope reaffirms. Izzie mumbles and okay before the line cuts. 

Penelope stands and looks around, her heart sinking. 

_She was a fool to think she ever stood a chance with a girl like her. _

* * *

_[back at the Gardner residence]_

As soon as Penelope pulled out of the driveway, Izzie started to feel queasy. Now that she thought about it, she hasn’t actually spent time with Casey that didn’t involve track, Penelope or Evan. 

She timidly approaches the doorstep to knock, revealing a very smiley Casey. 

“Hello there,” Casey has a mischievous grin plastered over her face, “what’s the password?” 

Izzie contemplates, “is it apple pie?” she holds the two pies in her hands and Casey brightens up. 

“Totally not the password, but that can definitely get you in,” Casey steps out of the way allowing Izzie entrance. 

Izzie steps inside and immediately notices Sam in the kitchen area, holding a stack of plates. 

“I can’t wait to show you what I bought at the thrift store,” Casey exclaims, grabbing Izzie’s hand and leading her upstairs

“Okay, let me see,” Izzie laughs, unsure of what to expect. 

“Give me five minutes,” Casey opens her bathroom door, “or maybe ten minutes.” 

“Okay,” Izzie watches as Casey shuts the door behind her. She decides to stay in Casey’s room and wait until she hears shuffling and a door slam. Intrigued, she peeks her head out in time to see Sam in distress, rushing downstairs. 

Izzie felt compelled to follow him, only to hear him shuffling back upstairs. 

“Oh, hi again Izzie,” Sam acknowledges, stopping for a second, “okay, bye!” he walks back into his room, this time not bothering to shut the door. 

Izzie slowly follows behind, watching as Sam vicariously checks his phone. He groans and begins pacing and Izzie could immediately tell something was wrong.

“Hey,” Izzie knocks at the door, earning Sam’s attention. 

“Izzie,” Sam repeats, “I already said hi to you.” 

Izzie nods her head, “I know, I just saw you run in here and wanted to make sure everything is okay.”

Sam shakes his head, “nothing is okay. I failed my Socratic seminar, which means I’ll probably fail college.” 

Izzie’s heart drops. She knew a few things about failure and the weight it bears on another’s shoulder. Sam checks his phone again, “but my professor let me submit a paper in replacement and I’m waiting for my grade.” 

Izzie sends him a warm smile, “I’m sure they’ll post it soon. In the meantime, you can focus your thoughts on something else, like the dinner tonight.” 

Sam nods his head, “that’s exactly what Paige said to do.” 

“Uh huh,” Izzie agrees, “and Paige is your…”

“Girlfriend!” Sam exclaims, “she should be calling sometime soon, it’s why I keep going downstairs, to make sure I don’t miss it.” 

“You know, my dad used to tell me that failing once doesn’t make you a failure. It just means you hit a bump in the road. You can always get back up and try again.”

Sam ponders this and then forms a small smile, “but if you hit a bump in the road, won’t your car be damaged? Therefore, I don’t understand the point in getting back up and trying again when your car is already broken.” 

Izzie thinks this through and finds a better usage for her words, “what I mean is that, you can always improve and get better. Failing this one seminar does not mean you will fail college.” 

Before Sam could respond, a loud ring comes from downstairs. 

“That’s Paige!” Sam states, “I have to go,” he walks pass Izzie not before coming to a stop, “thank you for that Izzie.” 

And with that, he’s gone. Izzie walks back to Casey’s room, only to find Casey leaning against her doorstep, wearing the most horrendous outfit known to man. A brown tweed suit with a red undershirt that Izzie was pretty sure a Coca Cola shirt. 

Izzie’s mouth drops, shocked, “what the _hell_ are you wearing?” 

* * *

When Casey finished putting on her suit, she rushes to show Izzie, only to find an empty audience. She walks towards her bedroom door, only to hear voices coming from Sam’s room. 

Immediately she recognizes Izzie’s voice. 

“I’m sure they’ll post it soon. In the meantime, you can focus your thoughts on something else, like the dinner tonight.” 

Casey listens in a bit more, not wanting to eavesdrop, but now that she was, she couldn’t stop. 

“You know, my dad used to tell me that failing one test doesn’t mean you’re a failure. It just means you hit a bump in the road. You can always get back up and try again.”

Casey’s heart warms at the fact that Izzie was doing her best to comfort Sam in his time of need. Something about that made her chest feel compressed. It was almost… comforting. She always loved how well Izzie understood Sam and the fact that they got along, it made her even more grateful to have Izzie in her life. 

“What I mean is that, you can always improve and get better. Failing this one seminar does not mean you will fail college.” 

_Fair point Izzie_, Casey thinks to herself. She honestly couldn’t have said it better. Within in seconds, Izzie is back at her bedroom entrance, mouth slightly opened. 

Izzie’s mouth drops, shocked, “what the _hell_ are you wearing?” 

Casey grins, “you like?”

“Is that a trick question?” Izzie shakes her head, “are you going for supportive best friend or brutally honest?” 

Casey raises her eyebrow, “both?”

Izzie shakes her head this time, “in that case, you look like amazing.”

Casey can’t help but turn a bright pink.

“Kind of reminds me of my grandma’s couch,” Izzie finishes, causing Casey to lightly shove her. 

“I’ll have you know, I feel very respectable in this outfit,” Casey pulls on the suit, doing a slight superman pose. 

Izzie laughs and Casey can’t help but think that is what an angel would sound like. 

“C’mon, let’s get some homework done before dinner,” Izzie moves past Casey and back into the her bedroom. Casey spares a glance at Sam’s room remembering the conversation she witnessed beforehand. 

“You’re good with Sam,” Casey points out.  
  
“Huh?” Izzie looks up from her phone, not hearing Casey the first time, “what did you say?”

Casey walks over to sit next to Izzie, “you’re really good with Sam.”

This time, it’s Izzie too flushes a light pink, “you mean that?”

“Yeah, of course!” Casey exclaims, “I appreciate you being there for him, especially tonight.” 

Izzie reaches over to grab Casey’s hand, “I’m _always_ here for the both of you…” 

For a second, everything in Casey’s point of vision freezes. It’s as if she was running through a tunnel straight for Izzie. Nothing seem to matter at this point but them. The same itching feeling that appeared when they ‘fore headed promise’ returned. 

And suddenly she could feel herself leaning, wanting nothing more than to fall into Izzie. 

_Falling. _

That’s exactly what she was doing.

Right up to the moment they were interrupted again. 

“Girls?” a voice speaks up, causing reality to crash onto Casey.

“Elsa!” Casey recalls, as her mom opens the door slightly. 

“Hello Izzie,” Elsa states, smiling at Izzie, who seemed vaguely confused.

“Hi Ms. Gardner,” Izzie responds. 

“What are you doing here?” Casey demands, her face flushed. In this moment she felt miles away from Izzie. A feeling she did not want at all.

“I was coming in to say goodbye,” Else explains, “Sam is downstairs with Paige and I’ve been given clear instructions to make myself scarce. So, you kids enjoy tonight. Call me if you need anything at-”

“Got it Elsa,” Casey interrupts, “you can go now.” 

Elsa nods her head and waves a goodbye to Izzie before slipping out. 

As soon as she was out of earshot, Casey felt the tension in the room rise to dangerous levels. 

“So, how about that chemistry homework?” Casey walks to her backpack, pulling out her binder. 

* * *

Izzie spends the next hour awkwardly attempting not to stare at Casey. Not going to lie, the suit was growing on her. Tweed maybe wasn’t her style, but then again, Casey looked good in anything she wore. 

They definitely shared a moment earlier. This time, Casey was insinuating it. That is one thing Izzie was sure of. Unless, she was over-analyzing the entire situation. And yet, her mind kept replaying that scene, as if it were stuck on a loop. 

Suddenly Izzie’s thoughts are put to rest when the alarm that Casey set goes off. 

“Finally,” Casey stands up, “I was getting tired of looking at my periodic table. Let’s go downstairs, I’m starving.” 

Izzie stands up and grab the pies she had left on Casey’s desk. 

As soon as they reached the bottom of the staircase, she can hear two distinct voices in the kitchen area. 

“Hey dorks,” Casey barges in, “look what I found at the thrift store.”

_Oh, here she goes._

“And I brought pie to make up for it,” Izzie smiles widely, holding out the pies in front of her. 

Immediately the girl on the tablet looks irrigated, “Sam, I said no tweed.” 

_This must be Paige_, Izzie thinks to herself, _Sam’s girlfriend_. 

Casey turns to Sam, “oh, my bad. I thought you said, only tweed.” 

Casey looks back to grin at Izzie. _That little shit_.

“We’ll make it work,” Paige brushes off, “now, what time will Evan be arriving?”   
  
“He’s working, so Izzie’s filling in,” Casey explains, putting her arm around Izzie. 

Izzie leans into Casey, looking back at Paige, “I’m her date.” 

_Her date_. It felt so natural and easy to say. 

“_Oh, okay_. Tweed suits, new guests,” Paige rants, “I mean, what’s in the pie? Dog poop?” 

_More like apple_, Izzie thinks to herself, but she can’t help but be amused at the entire situation. She looks at Casey who felt the exact same way. This was definitely going to be a special night. 

_RING. _

The doorbell goes off and Paige immediately brightens at the sound, “that’s the delivery guy! Ladies, please take the pies to the kitchen. Sam, take me to the door so I can check the bags.” 

The team disperses, Sam takes the tablet away and Izzie and Casey walk into the kitchen, Izzie places the pies on the counter. 

“The look on Paige’s face was well worth the eleven dollars,” Casey reaches over to scratch her back, “but I got say, this suit itches like a bitch. And there’s a spot on my back that I can’t quite reach.” 

“I can reach it,” Izzie responds, taking a step closer to Casey. She starts scratching her back, smiling.

“So,” Casey breaks off the contact, “weird that Evan didn’t say anything about my dad right?” 

_Yup, okay. Back to the Evan thing. _

“Yeah, he was probably just embarrassed. But she should have at least called,” Izzie states. Such a dick move to leave someone waiting on you. Especially someone who is doing you a favor. The least Evan could’ve done was text someone back. 

“Right?” Casey agrees, leaning her back on the counter. 

“Whatever,” Izzie shrugs, “boys are dumb. We don’t _need_ them.”

_If only Casey could see what she really meant. _

“Hmm,” Casey agrees, “yeah, screw boys. Thanks for being my date to this insane dinner.” 

Izzie blushes, not being able to hide her giddiness over the fact that Casey referred to her as her date, “yeah…”

“What’s insane about it?” a loud voice grabs their attention. 

Izzie panics, not wanting Casey’s friends to get the wrong impression of her, “nothing,” she explains to Paige, who is currently glaring at the both of them. 

“All cool, robo-host,” Casey smirks before looking at Sam, “Is this cheering you up?”

Sam grips onto the tablet, before shaking his head, “no.” 

Before they could follow him, the door opens revealing two more guests that Izzie has never met before. 

“Everyone, this is Gretchen,” the boy introduces. He begins to explain their origin story, something about meeting in a dumpster and being sole-mates. He explains to Gretchen the many people in the room, stopping at Izzie. “I don’t know this one,” he looks at her confused. 

Izzie awkwardly waves, “I’m Izzie.”

Casey makes a comment, “she came with the suit,” and Izzie can’t help but endearingly look at her. 

Once that was done, they finally have dinner. Which Izzie can’t help but thoroughly enjoy. This was the first meal she’s had all day. Mainly because she had been too nervous to eat. Izzie watches as Casey got to know Gretchen a bit more, taking jabs at her friend Zahid. Right from the start, Izzie had a bad feeling about Gretchen, not appreciating the way she was speaking to Sam. 

At one point, Zahid spills water on himself and Paige starts to take control again. 

Izzie leans over to whisper to Casey, “is she always like this?” 

Casey nods, “yeah, why do you think I wanted you to come?” 

Izzie laughs, honestly enjoying the time she’s spent with these colorful people. 

“Oooh, melty Brie!” Casey exclaims, cutting off Paige, “Brie and Mexican food, I love it. Where’d that come from?” 

The conversation is soon redirected when Sam makes a point about college that Gretchen immediately rebuttals. 

“Must make money,” Gretchen states in a robotic tone. 

Casey mimics her, “must eat cheese,” and leans over Izzie to grab a piece of the melty brie, only to come a few centimeters short. 

“I got it,” Izzie picks up the cheese instead and puts it into her mouth. They giggle for a bit, not realizing they have caught the attention of an audience. Gretchen eyes narrow as she takes a sip of water. 

Things start to take a turn south when Paige asks to excuse her and Casey, leaving Izzie alone with Sam and Gretchen. 

Which is fine, at first. Izzie even mentions her mother, exposing her for creating the tampon gravity bong. Now that is an invention she could never un see. 

And then Evan shows up unannounced. Suddenly, Izzie starts to see red. How dare he ghost this family, hurt Casey’s dad, and then have the audacity to _actually_ show up, out of the blue? 

Who did he think he was?

“What’s up Izzie?” Evan asks, taking bites of the brie. 

Izzie excuses herself and walks into the kitchen and Evan makes the mistake of following right behind her. 

“Is everything okay?” he questions, which further sets her off. 

Izzie huffs, “I mean, at least you had the decency to show up.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Izzie glares at him. How could this man be so dense? Furthermore, how can Casey continue to be with someone like him? 

“Evan, hey,” Casey reappears but Izzie doesn’t falter her look. Casey maybe more forgiving than she was, but she wasn’t just going to let this go. 

“What’s this look about?” Casey questions, a slight panic in her tone. Izzie knew she may be crossing boundaries, but she’d do just about anything for Casey. 

Izzie reiterates, “oh, I was just saying that I’m glad he bothered to come instead of just standing us up.” 

“Izzie,” Casey scolds. 

“What?” Evan trades looks from Izzie to Casey. 

“You stood up her dad,” Izzie accuses. Is he that dumb? Casey has been texting him all day, only to be ghosted. 

Evan looks taken aback, his ‘puppy dog’ peering into Casey, “wait, you told her that?” there was a slight raise of anxious in his voice and Izzie, for a split second, saw hurt. _As if he had any right to turn this on Casey. _

Izzie resists the urge to roll her eyes or utter a snarky comment. Instead she lets Casey take the lead. 

“Well, yeah, she’s my friend and I was upset. And you never told me what happened with my dad. I saw you before your shift. You were so excited to go and then you bailed. Not only that, you didn’t even give bother to give my dad a head’s up. I was just wondering what changed?” 

Before Evan could answer, an ear-deafening scream comes from upstairs, grabbing everyone’s attention to the front-door area. 

Apparently, Casey had left Paige upstairs, who ended up seeing Zahid’s penis when he was unable to hold his dragon. Or, that’s what Izzie could recall. 

“Paige, I’m sorry. I heard Evan coming so I just left--” Casey starts. 

Evan butts in, “oh, come on, so this is my fault now? Pfft, yeah good party.” 

Izzie was growing irritated by the minute with this man, “chill out, dude.” 

“You chill out.” Evan pushes back, glaring at Izzie. 

“I would be upset if I were him too,” Gretchen adds on, “I thought you two were a couple.” 

“What?” Casey and Izzie repeat at the same time. Izzie’s heart rate was rising and her palms becoming clammy. What if this pushes Casey away? Was she ready for people to think they were a couple? Why did hearing annoying Gretchen call them a couple actually make sense? Furthermore, why was the room starting to compress? 

“Come on,” Evan disagrees, shaking his head. This comment rubs Izzie the wrong way that she decides her presence is no longer warranted here. 

“Maybe I should go,” Izzie suggests, and Casey doesn’t even spare one look at her. 

“Yeah, you probably should,” Casey reaffirms. 

_Ouch. _

“No, I should go,” Evan speaks up and Izzie fights the urge once more to actually go off on him. 

“No we’ll go,” Gretchen adds on. 

_Oh my god, now is not the time for you to step in. _

“STOP, ALL OF YOU!” Paige screams, grabbing everyone’s attention, “okay, we are here to have fun!” 

Izzie can’t help but send a look at Casey, who thankfully shares the exactly same look. Whatever Paige was going through, she was seriously projecting it onto all of them. A few seconds after Paige’s speech, Elsa returns home, only for Casey to finally realize that Sam had disappeared. 

Izzie pulls out her phone, sending a quick text to Penelope. She wasn’t here yet, but this was the last place Izzie wanted to be. 

Without even harboring a goodbye to Casey, Izzie slips out, undetected. They were all busy looking for Sam, which she would’ve stayed to make sure he was okay. 

Izzie begins to walk past the Gardner residence and onto the neighborhood street. Further down she remembers a park that Casey and her would rest at when they would run together. 

Better than waiting awkwardly outside Casey’s house. 

At least with this plan, she didn’t risk running into Casey or Evan, or worst, Gretchen. Zahid was nice though. If only he could see how she was obviously using him. 

As she walked in darkness and silence, she makes sure to send Penelope an update. 

** _[To Penelope Park]_ **   
_I’ll be at the park down the street. _

When she makes it to the park, it’s basically deserted. There are many lights that shine and Izzie can’t help but feel at ease, even though her mind is running 165 miles an hour, trying to comprehend what happened tonight. 

Izzie finds a comfy bench, waiting for her cousin to arrive. 

There was at least one thing she was sure of, Penelope must’ve had a much better night than hers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so do y'all hate me yet? 
> 
> did u really think i was gonna make posie happen easily? LOL that's all i really had to say! more to come soon fam, i promise. 
> 
> as always lmk how u feel in the comments!! hope you all have a cheerful holidays for whatever you celebrate, and if you don't, then just have a fun and safe december!!


	11. no chance in hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLOOOO MY BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL ANGELS. 
> 
> I am back!!!
> 
> Longer version of notes will be at the bottom! Enjoy :)

** _Fr: Hope-less Mikaelson _ **   
_We need to talk. _

When Josie makes a beeline for Hope’s dorm, she is beyond exhausted. With her body dragging, she doesn’t even realize she is moving at an immensely quick pace. 

This could’ve easily become a tomorrow problem, if Josie hadn’t sense the urgency in Hope’s message. 

Josie is right around the corner to Hope’s door, slightly hesitating. Before she could reach her destination, she feels the weight of another figure collide with her, knocking her onto the ground. Not again, her body screeching in pain.

Josie perks her head before widening her eyes, “Lizzie?” she draws, only slightly thrown off at the sight of her twin, who looked as baffled to see her. 

“Jo?” Lizzie eyes her sister, “what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” 

_Could say the same about you_, Josie thinks to herself. 

“Hope texted me,” Josie explains, rubbing her temples, “and it sounded important.” 

Lizzie raises her eyebrow, “of course, she disappears on me to see Maya and then doesn’t even bother to send _me_ a text back,” she was fuming and Josie could see this escalating, as was her headache. 

Josie’s eyes widen, “she went to see Maya?” 

There was no way that this was a coincidence. Hope must’ve run off because of what happened with Maya tonight. Did that mean it wasn’t an Ethan problem?

And if so, what exactly was the problem? 

Lizzie brushes her off, “it’s always like this with her. She chooses Maya over me all the time. How is she supposed to be my _girlfriend_ when I’m her second best?” 

Josie sympathizes with her sister, “Liz, Hope really cares about you and I’m sure she wouldn’t leave if something important wasn’t happening with Maya. And you are far from second best.” 

“It doesn’t work like that Jo,” Lizzie sighs, refusing to listen, “Hope is quick to leave when it’s about Maya, even before we started dating. Maya has always somehow been first in her life. How can I compete in that? When I’m not even sure it’s me she wants to be with?” 

Josie shakes her head, unable to bear seeing her sister like this, “because,” steps forward to console her sister, “it’s you she’s with. Not Maya. You’re the girl she wants.” Lizzie scoffs, taking a step back, “do you see her here now Jo?” 

Josie pauses, cat biting her tongue. She didn’t know how else to approach this situation. 

“I--” Josie begins. 

“Lizzie?” a voice interrupts causing both twins turn around. And just like that, Josie breaks out into a small smile. _I told you so_, she wanted to comment. 

However, the moment Lizzie’s eyes meet Hope’s, a scowl appears. 

“You know what Jo,” Lizzie explains, “I’m actually really tired, so I should get going. We do have practice early tomorrow anyways.” 

Without even sparring another word to Hope, Lizzie stomps away, mumbling under her breath. 

“Lizzie wait,” Hope reaches out, but it was far too late, Lizzie was gone. 

It’s not like it would’ve made a difference, Josie thinks to herself. Whenever her sister was this upset, it took more than a helpless cry to get her to sit around and talk. 

In that moment, she makes the decision to go after her. Whatever issue Hope had right now would have to wait until tomorrow. 

Josie awkwardly steps back, bumping into Hope’s door, catching her attention, “I should probably go after her.” 

“Wait Jo,” Hope reaches out to touch Josie’s arm, “do you mind staying a bit, I was wondering if we could we talk first?” 

Josie’s breath hitches as she peers into her best friend’s bright blue eyes. Okay, never mind. I guess this would be a tonight problem as well. 

“Yeah okay, let’s go inside then,” Josie motions to Hope’s dorm. 

* * *

Hope nods her head, opening it for Josie to enter. She turns at the direction Lizzie ran in and solemnly waits, praying Lizzie would come back. However, she knew her girlfriend well enough to know she wasn’t. 

“Hope?” Josie calls out, breaking her trance. 

Hope stares at Josie, _oh right. _

“You should just talk to her,” Josie softly points out, scratching her head. 

“What?” 

“Lizzie,” Josie repeats, “she doesn’t like being left in the dark about things. You running off to see Maya is one of those things.” 

“What if I can’t tell her?” Hope barely whispers, exhausted. 

All she wanted was a day with her girlfriend. 

But Maya was an important part of her life as well and she wanted Lizzie to know but she couldn’t risk betraying Maya’s trust. 

Josie furrows her brow, “then tell her that. Tell her something Hope, because she’s running her mind to exhaustion trying to figure out this dating thing with you. And it doesn’t help that you’re never around.” 

Hope looks down, her heart aching. She didn’t even know that Lizzie felt that way. 

Josie could feel that she struck a nerve and steps in to pull Hope into a long-needed hug. 

“She cares for you Hope,” Josie whispers, “let her know you feel the same way.” 

Hope hugs her best friend back and they stay there for a few minutes. They sit idly in silence, Hope awkwardly laying up near her bed and Josie on the other side. 

“So your text?” Josie softly points out, “is everything okay?” 

Hope suddenly freezes.

The truth was, she impulsively texted Josie because at the time, it felt right. Her intentions were to help Maya. 

Now with Josie in front of her, it started to feel wrong. 

Telling Josie the truth would be a selfish move. She would only be doing it because she knew she couldn’t tell Lizzie without telling Josie first. 

“Hope?” Josie reaches out, pulling the red-headed girl out of her thoughts. 

“It was just about Lizzie,” Hope rushes out, hoping her best friend wouldn’t see right through her lies. 

Josie raises her eyebrow, “are you sure?”

Hope nods. 

In an instant Josie exhales, breaking out into a small smile, “girl problems? Really, Hope?” 

Hope sends a half-smile back, “I mean, yeah, I’m an idiot when it comes to her.” 

Josie shakes her head and walks over to her bed, motioning for Hope to come over, “You’re generally just an idiot, we been knew. But okay, let’s dissect. Why don’t you start from the beginning?” 

Hope exhales, explaining everything to Josie (excluding certain truths about Maya, but overall being honest). She didn’t even realize how much she’s missed having her best friend around until now. 

* * *

The following morning Josie wakes up way past time for practice. In fact, when she wakes up she realizes that she’s slept through most of the day. 

Confused, she looks over and notices her sisters bed is already made. 

_Where did Lizzie go?_ And, why was she not being rudely awoken at six in the morning. Practice._ Oh, shit._ She was never going to hear the end of it.

Josie instinctively reaches for her phone first, seeing a bunch of unopened text notifications. 

** _Fr: Hope-less Mikaelson _ **   
_Thank again you for last night Jo. _

** _Fr: Alyssa ChaChang_ **   
_Jo, I have a few concerns. We need to talk. _

** _Fr: MG the G_ **   
_Yoooo. I hate you. How tf are you going to leave us with Lizzie? Esp when she’s angry. The girl has just doing burpees at 6:15am. _

_Oh shit, she’s on a rampage. SOS. _

_BYE JO_

** _Fr: Ka-luv Hawkins_ **   
_Next time u ask me to help you with a ‘favor’ remind me to say no. _

What the hell happened this morning? 

Bewildered, Josie decides to reply to MG’s first, knowing if anyone was on their phone right now, it’d be him. After sending her message, she places her phone down and decides to attempt to make it to first period. Moments before she could officially get out of bed, her room was suddenly occupied by three other guests. 

“I get to talk to her first,” Alyssa barges in, pushing Hope out of the way. 

“She’s my best friend,” Hope argues back, coming in behind. 

“How about we all calm down and take turns?” Lizzie stomps in, taking her stance next to Hope, “this is my room so I think if anyone gets the say, it’s me”

Alyssa crosses her arms before looking in Josie’s direction, “it’s almost afternoon and she isn’t even up yet?” 

Josie, at the sound of the three voices covered the blanket over herself. _If I continue to lay here very still, maybe they would get the hint and leave her alone._

“She’s faking,” Hope accuses, _damn it Hope_, “Jo, get up,” Hope’s calls out. 

Josie groans, lifting the blanket off her face. She slowly sits up, coming into view of the three girls, suspiciously surrounding her. 

“Good morning” Josie croaks, awkwardly waving at the figures standing in front of her. A pause hangs in the air for a few seconds as Alyssa and Hope eye one another.

The peace is soon broken when Alyssa steps forward, standing directly in front of Josie. 

“I assume you received my text about the favor-” Alyssa begins, which was soon overpowered by two very loud voices. 

“THAT’S NOT FAIR ALYSSA,” Hope bellows, running over to Josie’s other side, across from Alysa. The girls begin talking over one another, disabling Josie from understanding what they were trying to tell her. 

“Mikaelson, if you interrupt me one more time,” Alyssa glares, getting in front of Hope’s face. 

“What are you going to do about it Chang?” Hope snaps back, glaring up at Alyssa. 

Josie could feel her ongoing headache increasing as the tensions between them girls took an odd turn. She watches as her twin sister, got in front of the two girls. 

“Why don’t we take a quick pause?” Lizzie smiles, “each person steps to the side and then we can take turns and not overwhelm my twin sister.” 

“No chance in hell,” Alyssa pulls away, “you’re just going to let your little girlfriend go first.” 

“Maybe because I’m right-” Hope begins before Lizzie glares at her, causing Hope to shut up. 

Josie, getting very confused by the second, decides to speak up, “hi, hello, twin sister butting in. I don’t care who goes first, can somebody just tell me why there are three of you yelling in my room this early in the day?” 

Silence falls as the two girls decide they would not want to talk over one another. 

“Nothing?” Josie asks again.

“Alyssa wants-” Lizzie begins, only to get cut off. 

“I can speak for myself Liz, thank you very much,” Alyssa presents, “my coven has decided that it’s time for us to take lead in committee for this year’s talent show.” 

“You’re not a coven, just say it’s a clique and go,” Hope mumbles under her breath, earning a scowl from Alyssa. 

“Anyways, my dearest Saltzman, I think it’s time we gave the juniors free reign!” 

“Free reign in what?” Josie still confused about their dire need to barge into her room at this time of day. 

“Participation, duh.” Alyssa crosses her arms, “we just want what’s rightfully ours, credit in the talent show.” 

“The talent show?” Josie questions. 

“The talent show is a long-standing tradition for the Salvatore School,” Hope answers, “and according to the official school handbook, the senior class has always taken the lead in hosting the event. It’s supposed to be our last send-off to the Salvatore School.” 

“Since when have we followed the rulebooks?” Alyssa rebuttals, “juniors and seniors have always worked together on setting up events. For this year, I was thinking it’s about time we have more of say, rather than being forced to work behind the scenes.” 

“More of say?” Hope’s voice rises, “You’re so full of bull-” 

“Hope,” Lizzie stops her, earning herself a glare from the younger Mikaelson girl. 

Hope stops and stares intently at Lizzie with betrayal stricken across her face, “you can’t seriously be taking her side?” 

Lizzie grows quiet, with Alyssa and Hope both looking at her, “I-”

“I can’t believe it,” Hope’s blue eyes darken as she turned to face Josie. 

“Don’t be upset with Lizzie for knowing I’m right,” Alyssa tilts her head, knowingly, “Josie, since you are the elected upper-class president, you can bring our concerns to the council and then you get the final say.”

Josie scratches her head, “the final say in what, exactly?”

Alyssa rolls her eyes, “in who runs the committee, duh?” 

Josie nods before looking at Hope, “and you want me to say no.” 

Hope looks from Lizzie to Josie before nodding her head, “it isn’t that the senior class doesn’t want anyone’s help, it’s that we don’t want to turn this into the Alyssa Chang show.” 

“You’re just mad because your girlfriend understands the importance of having an actual part in something we are forced to attend too,” Alyssa growls. 

“Okay,” Josie’s voice rises, this time pushing her to stand up, “how about we compromise?” 

“Compromise?” Alyssa bellows, “if I have to compromise with Hope-”

“You’re going to what?” Hope interjects.

“I’ll show you what-” Alyssa steps forward. 

Lizzie steps between them, her eyes reaching with anger-stricken dark blue eyes. 

Hope pauses, her eyes narrowing at Lizzie before muttering, “I’m late for physics, but this isn’t over.” 

Hope storms out, not giving a single look to Lizzie, Alyssa, or Josie. 

Josie looks over at her sister, who was in her own disarray. Josie knew if they went on like this, they were never going to figure their shit out. 

“Liz,” Josie nudges, gaining her sisters attention, “go.” 

Lizzie nods and runs out the door after Hope, leaving an unbothered Alyssa in her room. 

“So?” Alyssa asks, crossing her arms.

Josie rubs her temples, not wanting to deal with Alyssa or Hope or anything about the talent show at this time, “Alyssa, now is not exactly a great time, can we please discuss this later?” 

“Don’t tell me you’re going to agree with Mikaelson on this one?” 

“Alyssa please,” Josie pleads, “we have the monthly leaders meeting in a few days, right before council, come up with a stronger argument and then I’ll make my final decision.” 

Alyssa gives her a disdained look before agreeing, “fine Saltzman, but don’t forget, you still owe me,” with that she navigates away, leaving Josie feeling uneasy. 

There was no way she was going to make it to first period at this point. 

_BUZZ BUZZ. _

Josie looks down at her phone. 

** _Fr: Maya MacnCheese_ **   
_Hey Jo, I’m sorry for what happened yesterday. You were right, I may have been projecting onto you and I never meant to hurt you in anyway. If you could come by the diner today and let me explain. I’ll even make it up to you. Lunch, dinner, it’s on me. Just let me know. _

Josie sends a soothing response to Maya, mentioning that it was okay and that she may not be able to do lunch or dinner today but that didn’t mean they couldn’t meet up tomorrow or sometime this week. 

She then jumps out of bed and rushes to get ready. The least she could do is make it to the dining hall to grab lunch before making it to one of her classes for today. The one she shared with Hope. 

When she enters, Hope is nowhere to be found. Unsuspecting, she decides to takes her regular seat, pushing herself to endure the entire day. Only a few more hours. And then she would be able to see Penelope again. 

She could feel the excitement radiating through her veins. Just the thought of spending more time with the green-eyed girl made her feel giddy. She, in no way, could mess this up. And she was not going to let the drama of the Salvatore School mess it up either. 

* * *

  
“Hope, wait up,” Lizzie reaches out to grab her girlfriend’s wrist, stopping her from walking any further.

Hope ceases, her blue eyes darker than usual. 

“What do you want Liz?” 

“I’m sorry,” Lizzie starts off, “I should’ve had your back in there.” 

“I know we aren’t in a good place right now,” Hope pleads, her tone more sad than angry, “but I really thought you would’ve, but instead you allowed Alyssa Chang to take shots at me.” 

“I know,” Lizzie sighs, “and I’m sorry about that.”

Hope doesn’t budge, too caught up in her own spew of feelings. She had been trying to get Lizzie to talk to her all day and the first thing that actually catches her attention is this Alyssa mess. 

“Alyssa isn’t doing this to spite you.”

Hope raises her eyebrow, refusing to falter. 

“She’s not a bad person, and she actually makes a good point that-”

“So not only are you taking her side but now you’re defending her?” Hope interrupts, her irritation rising. It wasn’t that she hated Alyssa, it was that she was insufferable to work with. The last time Hope attempted to get along with her on a project, it was at summer camp, where they were forced to be roommates. 

Hope shivers at the memory. 

“That’s not what I’m trying to do!” 

“So tell me, what exactly are you trying to then?” Hope challenges, her anger becoming of her. She was unable to understand why Lizzie was so intent on Alyssa taking charge of this event. 

“I’m just trying to get you to see that it doesn’t always have to include you,” Lizzie spats back. 

“Excuse me?” 

“Whenever there is an issue, it’s always about how Hope Mikaelson can fix it,” Lizzie draws, her own anger surprising, “you go around with this fixated need to help everyone around you that you seem to disregard the actual people in your life that need you!” 

Hope blinks, “Are we still talking about the talent show?” 

“You’ll never get it, will you?” Lizzie exasperates. 

Hope hears the pleading in her voice and immediately knows where this conversation is headed. It’s the same conversation that she had been trying to have, “this about yesterday with Maya.” 

Lizzie looks down, her eyes solemn. 

“Liz, I wanted to talk about it this morning, after practice. You said-”

“I remember what I said Hope,” Lizzie states, “I know that whatever you were going to say, it was some variation of something Josie told you I wanted to hear. And if I heard it, I would just agree because I miss you and I want to believe that you would mean it and things were going to change. But then I, when I was hanging with Alyssa and the girl girls, she brought up the point that if you were to lead the committee, you would just get sucked in and-”

Lizzie pauses, unable to even look at Hope. 

“And what?” Hope ponders. 

Lizzie goes to open her mouth when Hope’s phone goes off. They both look at the screen as Landon’s picture appears. With that, something Lizzie shifts. 

“Well,” Lizzie growls, “looks like it’s your cue.” 

“Liz,” Hope reaches out to stop the taller girl, but it’s too late. Lizzie walks off, not sparing another glance. 

Hope groans, deciding to pick up the call.

“Landon this better be-”

“It is Hope. We need you here now.” 

Hope rests her head on the wall, knowing this was not going to end well, “okay, I’ll be over in a bit.” 

* * *

The day is nearly over when Josie arrives back to her dorm. She is narrowing the line between exhausted and exhilarated. 

She looks at the time on her phone. 

_Only one more hour. _

With an empty room, she assumes that Lizzie and Hope made up and we’re currently living it up in Hope’s dorm. 

Which, honestly, did her more favors. 

It wasn’t like she was sickened by their relationship. Could she live her life not having to see them be cute every five seconds? Yeah, sure. But at the same time, she was rooting for them. 

Regardless of how long it took them to get their shit together, they deserve one another. Truly the best enemies to friends to lovers trope out there. 

Now that they were preoccupied, she could finally focus on her own love-life. It’s not like she was left with many options. Most of her ‘lovers’ were in her head. That, or they usually ended up falling for Lizzie.

Which made wanting love difficult. Whenever Josie liked someone, she did her best to keep it from her sister, but the circle they were in was pretty small. Everyone at Salvatore knew one another, which made dating plain weird. 

Josie then tried dating at Mystic Fall High, which worked for a bit, but nobody ever really caught her interest, until recently. 

Penelope Park. 

She couldn’t seem to get her name out of her head. 

The green-eyed girl who she’s spoken a total of twenty words (give or take) too. 

Something about this felt almost too good to be true. 

_Get dressed then_, the voice in her head reminded her. Josie looks at the clock. She didn’t want to be late. Like her mother used to say, ten minutes early is on time and on time is late.

Hastily, Josie starts to get ready, changing from her normal school clothes to something more appropriate. Which, ended being the hardest decision she’s made this past week. 

This was technically their first date. 

So she wasn’t sure how dressed up she should go as. Should it be more subtle? 

_If only you told your sister or your best friend about this, maybe you’d have some help._ Josie rolls her eyes at the thoughts in her head. There was a very good reason she wasn’t telling them anything. 

After what felt like three days, she finally decides on yellow crop top and blue shorts. She didn’t want anything Salvatore related, nor did she want to look like she tried too hard. And yet, she wanted Penelope to see that she did try and that she wasn’t without some form of style. 

The fine line between ‘brunch with a pal’ and ‘I would gladly wife you up tomorrow’. 

When Josie looks at the clock, she sees that it’s exactly twenty six minutes until their date. 

Which was more than enough time to stop by the local florist to grab some flowers and still be there early. 

Excitedly, Josie rushes down to her car, quickly skipping before anybody could stop her. 

No one and she repeated, no one is going to ruin this for her. 

When she arrives at the Mystic Falls Diner’s parking lot, she bolts for the nearest florist, which so happens to be within walking distance, and owned by Landon’s mother, Seylah Kirby. 

Josie can’t help but brighten up when she enters the little shop, which was called ‘Malivore’. Ironically it is a pretty dark name for a very light-hearted place. But that was another story for another time. 

The ‘Malivore’ was one of the best things to happen to Mystic Falls. That and Seylah was pretty amazing at her job. 

“Josette Saltzman,” Seylah Kirby smiles at the sight of her. 

“Hello Mrs. Kirby,” Josie beams.

“What brings you in today?” Seylah asks, raising her eyebrow, “if you’re looking for Landon, you should probably check with Ethan or at that grill he spends all his time at.”

Josie giggles, not wanting to break it to her that Landon actually took up a job there, hence his unavailability to work here. 

“Actually, I wanted to check out some flowers,” Josie shyly answers, her eyes navigating to the few display’s laid out. 

Seylah notices a distinct look on Josie’s face, “_oh_, is this for a special someone?” 

Josie turns a light pink at the accusation, “something like that. Today is our ‘technically’ but not exactly first date and I wanted to make an impression.” 

“Thatta girl,” Seylah hums in agreement, “hmm, if that is the case, I have the right set for you in the back. I’ll be just a minute.” 

Josie nods her head and takes a seat, nervously tapping her foot. 

_Were flowers too much? Would Penelope like flowers? Was she a flower girl? Was she allergic? Or was she-_

“Jo?” a deep voice appears, bringing Josie away from her thoughts. 

“Raf?” Josie raises her eyebrow, “what are you doing here?” 

Rafael was wearing his normal clothes with a bright green apron, clutching onto a bag of fertilizer in his hands. 

“I actually work here,” Rafael puts the fertilizer down to give Josie a hug. 

“What brings you in today?” 

Josie and Rafael used to date. Or well, it was one bad date with ended with one kiss and them ultimately deciding they were better off as friends. 

They weren’t as close as they used to be, not enough for Josie to be spilling any secrets with. But at this point, Josie was too excited to keep it contained. 

“I’m actually picking up flowers for a date,” she beams, “Seylah said she had the perfect ones in the back.” 

Rafael smiles warmly at her, “that sounds really great Jo!” 

“Thanks Raf.”

Josie can’t help but agree, hoping for the same exact thing. 

Rafael and her continue in some small talk before Seylah reappears holding a medium sized bouquet of sunflowers and lilies. It was not bold enough to scare anybody away and subtle enough that Josie couldn’t help but scream (internally) about how perfect it was.

“Here you go,” Seylah hands her the bouquet. 

“Mrs. Kirby, it’s perfect, thank you.” 

“Anytime sweetheart,” Seylah responds.

As Josie reaches into her bag, Seylah stops her, “no, no, consider this on the house.” 

“B-but,” Josie insists. 

“Think of it as a present,” Seylah claims, “for being such a good friend to my little Landon.” 

Josie smiles, “Landon is lucky to have you, thank you again Mrs. Kirby.”

“Don’t be a stranger now,” Seylah smiles, “and have an amazing time on your ‘technical’ first date.”“I will, thank you,” Josie responds, walking away, gripping the flowers in her hands.

As she walks back to the diner, she is confident nothing can ruin this day.

_6:45 PM_

Josie finds a good bench to sit by, easily spotted by anybody who appears within the area. Fifteen minutes would surely pass by in no time, she convinced herself. 

More than enough time. 

As she nervsouly scrolled through her phone, she didn’t feel time go by as fast as she wanted it too. The longer the seconds drew on, the more uneasy she began to get. 

_Breathe_, she reminded herself,_ everything is going to be alright._

_RING, RING._

Josie looks down excitedly before remembering that Penelope didn’t have her number. She looks down and sees that it’s her dad calling her, which was odd because her dad never called her. He would send text every now and then but never a phone call. 

Deciding it is important enough she picks it up. 

“Dad?” Josie asks, her voice filled with confusion and concern. 

“Honey, are you on campus?” her dad’s voice is stern, but there is a looming urgency mixed with fear in his tone. 

“No, I’m not.” Josie responds, this time visibly tensing up, “Dad, what’s going on?” 

“There’s been an accident,” her dad says, “Lizzie is-”

Before he could even finish the sentence, something in Josie flips. Still gripping onto the bouquet, she hangs up the phone and begins running towards her car. Her vision suddenly blurring. 

_This was not happening right now. _

When she makes it to her car, she fumbles with her key, unable to open the door. 

“Fuck,” she mumbles under her breath, clearly frustrated. 

“Jo?” a voice calls out.   
Josie looks up and finds herself face to face with Maya. 

Maya, dressed in her work outfit, drops the trash bags she is holding and rushes over to the taller girl. She notices right away that something is wrong. 

“Jo, what’s wrong?” 

“I have to go,” Jo mumbles weakly, attempting to open her car door once more. 

“Where are you going?” 

“T-the hospital,” Josie repeats, “my sister, she uh- there’s been some accident.” 

Maya eyes widen, “here, let me drive you.” 

Josie shakes her head, “no you’re working, I can do it myself.”

Maya persists, “I’m sure Landon and Ethan can handle the two people that show up at this hour. C’mon my car is parked on the other side.”

Maya reaches out her hand for Josie to grab. She accepts willingly, knowing better to let Maya drive than her, especially with her mind racing the way it was. She was clearly in no position to be behind the wheel right now. 

The only place she wanted to be now was with her sister. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yup yuP yUP YUP so that happened....
> 
> OKAY, listen up y'all, cause this is it, the beat that I'm playing is delicious 
> 
> For the longest time I've been unable to write because I'm in my internship which requires 40 hours of my time and then i work as a caregiver about 35 hours of my week. So i'm fairly EXHAUSTED most of the time and i've had this in my drafts for quite some time 
> 
> but ofc i love to mirror the show so i just had to add some alyssa and hope banter, some sebastian (ok don't worry i don't ship sizzie AT ALL, sorry not sorry if you do, but having lizzie just turn him down? LOOK IT NEEDED TO BE DONE. but also wade x sebastian friendship perhaps? 
> 
> this wasn't the original path that i wanted to take it but i finished it up (w/o editing it) after replying back to all your wonderful comments. and i knew i just had to post it or else it would never come out so this is the draft i am now officially going withhhhhh SJKJKJKJLJL honestly, i am shookethhh as well. 
> 
> i usually hate long end-notes but today is going to be a definite long one bc ya girl has a lot to say c: to those who read my other story 'perfectly wrong for you' i am currently trying my hardest to wrap that up!! it's coming soon! i promise. between the 40 hours unpaid internship and the 35 hours (night shift) it's hard to really sit down and write :( and i did kinda loose motivation but i'm trying y'all!! 
> 
> ALSOOOOO how we feeling about ethan x landon crack ship? LOL honestly with the way the show has been going... big yikes. i'm still going to finish this story, (i hope) 
> 
> OKAY IM DONE FR. let me know which ships u like or dont' like, i can take it. okay yeah byeeee. please stay hydrated and safe and if u never need anything, i'm only a dm away. c: 
> 
> ONCE AGAIN, LET ME KNOW HOW YOU THINK? u hate me? (pls say no i'm fragile) LOL 
> 
> come talk to me on my twitter @5Hdeanoru (i don't bite)


	12. just say you’re in love with me and go

_*flashback to a few hours earlier*_

There was something irritating about seeing the hobbit’s face appear at the exact moment Lizzie wanted to be vulnerable with her girlfriend. 

Okay, calling Landon the hobbit was a definite low blow, but she was upset. 

Lizzie desperately wanted to be honest. She fully intended on explaining to Hope her fears about their relationship. That she is insecure about how Hope spends her time, which leads into why she selfishly didn’t want Hope to join the committee, fearing it would lessen all the time she has left with her before graduation. 

With Hope applying for out of state colleges, the chances of her leaving were high. And with Lizzie being a year younger than her, it made their time feel condensed. As if she had to spend the rest of this year with her, before it all changed. 

To make matters worse, she actually held out a bit of faith that Hope would run after her. 

“Okay, I’ll be over in a bit.” 

Lizzie sighs, her heart slightly breaking at the confirmation. Nothing hurt more than hearing her choose to do the Hope Mikaelson thing she does, which involves running off to save someone else. Whether that be Landon, Maya, Ethan, Rafael, or whoever. 

When she ran off, it was not supposed to look that dramatic. At the same time, she couldn’t help but assume that because she ran off, there would be that shrivel of hope that Hope would come after her. 

_How dumb was that? _

“Saltzman,” a voice stops her, mid thought. 

Lizzie turns and acknowledges the smaller figure standing a few feet away, “Alyssa, hey.” 

“So, I was wondering if you have a second to talk,” Alyssa asks, her voice low. Definitely different from her earlier tone in her room. 

Lizzie, remaining on the doubtful side, chose to tread cautiously, “sure, what’s going on?” 

No matter how upset she was at Hope, she knew better than to give into Alyssa’s little game, which would only add fuel to the already burning fire that was their relationship. 

“I wanted to apologize to you first,” Alyssa starts, “I am sorry about earlier. I don’t want my issues with Hope to affect our friendship.” 

Lizzie nods, a bit confused but moreover grateful. Her friendship with Alyssa has always been a complicated one full of understanding. They were usually partnered up for school projects and would occasionally hang around one another in a large group of friends. However, when it came to their own friendship, well Lizzie wasn’t really sure they had one, until today. 

“And while I’m not explicitly asking you to choose between me or Hope, I wanted you to know that our friendship would remain, even if you decide to turn down my proposal,” Alyssa nervously rubs her arm, “but the other junior girls and I are trying to come up with a valid argument to present to your sister by the end of this week and we’re wondering if you’d be okay joining us when we present it?” 

Lizzie contemplates, knowing the weight of this decision. As much as she didn’t want to go behind her back, she couldn’t help but agree with Alyssa’s stance. As selfish as it sounded. 

“It isn’t that we want to take the floor from Hope or the other seniors,” Alyssa explains softly, “all we are asking for more of a say. This is an event we’re forced to participate in. That’s all.” 

“Can I have some time to think about it?”Alyssa’s face falters, as she attempts to compose herself, “sure thing Liz, let me know soon though.” 

“Will do,” Lizzie excuses herself and beelines to her bedroom, immediately shutting the door behind her. 

She falls onto her bed, face first, wanting nothing more than to shut the world up. 

Sadly, that was too good to be true. 

At the sound of knocking, Lizzie groans, lifting herself up and makes it to the door, revealing a tall, brown-haired man, with dark blue eyes leaning himself on the corner of her door. 

“Ms. Josette Saltzman?” he presents, his accent quite distinctive. 

“Not available,” Lizzie grumpily responds, “can I take a message?” 

The blue-eyed boy tilts his head, “I was told she would be facilitating the tours by one Dr. Alaric Saltzman, however since she’s unavailable, I am quite the free man.” 

Lizzie internally rolls her eyes, crossing her arms. 

“The names Sebastian,” he presents, smirking at her. 

Lizzie groans (internally), not in the mood to deal with this, “well Sebastian, while it is a pleasure to meet you, I am not currently a free woman. In fact, the name is not interested and if you are desperately looking for someone to give you a tour, I do have a wonderful friend who would love nothing more than to show you around. Just go down this hall and turn left, it’s the first door there,” Lizzie smiles, “goodbye now.” 

Once the door was shut, she returns to the comfort of her bed. 

She hopes Wade wouldn’t mind the extra guest. Wade, the only other student that would give Josie a run for her money when it came to ‘who knew more about the Salvatore school’. If she were a betting woman (which she technically isn’t) she would bet that Josie would have a hard time keeping up with Wade, had they actually had a Salvatore Trivia match against each other. 

Lizzie giggles at the idea. 

Before she could fall into a slumber, she interrupted by another knock at her door. 

Grumbling, she stands up and opens her door again. 

“Josie is unavailable, come back again,” Lizzie states mindlessly before realizing she was not looking any just anyone. 

“Pedro?” 

Pedro’s face is filled with impending doom, “we need your help!” he yells, tugging on Lizzie’s arm before rushing off in a different direction. 

Stunned at first, Lizzie eventually comes to her senses, grabbing her keys on the dresser before locking her door and running after the younger boy. 

“Pedro wait!” 

Before she could lose him outside, Pedro halts, pointing directly towards the clearing the woods where the jocks would usually hang out. Basically, where most of the parties took place. Not that Lizzie ever really went too. 

Okay, fine. She may have hosted a few. A few too many that she knew that place was not safe for Pedro or his friends. 

“Down there,” he points, before swiftly running down the path. 

“Be careful!” 

Lizzie yelps, carefully following behind him. Even she knew that running down would be a mistake. 

As soon as they reach the edges of the old mill-house, she realizes the predicament they are in. Right in front of her is a few other kids, around Pedro’s age, huddled around a brown dog laying on its side, unmoving. 

“We found him like this,” one of the kids says, their faces full of tears. The rest of the children remain idly, too frozen in fear to move. 

Lizzie rapidly moves near, unsure of what to do. They clearly must’ve been looking for Josie, because she was the Saltzman twin who was amazing with animals. 

But Josie was currently unavailable. 

“Pedro, go grab MG and tell him to meet me in the parking lot,” Lizzie explains, trusting the younger boy to make it back up the trail safely, the same way he did to get her. 

“As for the rest of you, you know the rules,” Lizzie scolds softly, “none you are allowed to be here unsupervised. Now go back to your dorm rooms and remember this conversation. I would hate to have to tell Dr. Saltzman I saw you all down here.” 

“We’re sorry Ms. Saltzman,” they apologize, before one by one turning to head back to campus. 

“Will he be alright?” one of the younger girls remained, her voice visibly filled with concern. 

Lizzie does a quick inspection of the dog in front of her, unsure. Even if she wasn’t that great with animals, she knew something was not going well for this younger dog. 

“I’m going to take him-”

“His name is Jasper,” Cassidy interrupts, “I named him after my brother.” 

Lizzie smiles, “I’ll take Jasper to the vet, and they’ll do everything they can to help him, okay?” 

“Can I come with you?” 

Lizzie pauses, judging the situation, “I think it’s better if you stay behind Cass. But I will make sure the moment I get any news, you’ll be the first one I call.” 

“Promise?” 

“Pinky-promise,” Lizzie agrees, holding her pinky out for Cassidy.

“Now go back to your dorm, okay?” 

“Okay…” Cassidy walks away, leaving Lizzie alone with the dog. 

Lizzie searches around for something warm to wrap the medium-sized dog in. When she finds an old towel, she quickly, but softly wraps the dog in the towel, soothing it down as she attempts to lift him up.

“Hey Jasper, you’re going to feel a little bit of pressure but don’t worry, we’re going to get you some help,” the dog whines before quieting down in her arms. Lizzie lifts him up from the ground and swiftly carries him to her car. 

When she arrives in the lot she notices Alyssa standing idly, Pedro right by her side. 

“Woah Saltzman,” Alyssa comments, as Lizzie drew closer. Unsure of why it was her who showed up and not MG, but she didn’t waste time trying to actually question it. 

“The door Alyssa!” Alyssa doesn’t hesitate. When the dog is safely buckled up in the back, Lizzie looks over at Alyssa. 

“Where’s MG?” Lizzie questions, as she shuts the door and walks over to the drivers’ seat.

Alyssa shrugs, “no clue, Pedro knocked on my door.” 

Lizzie gazes over at Pedro, who shrugs, “I didn’t know which room MG was in.” 

“That’s fine little P,” Lizzie nods, “now head back to your dorm and make sure you and your friends stay out of the old-mill house, okay?” 

“Will do big S,” Pedro agrees, before running off in another direction.

Lizzie hops into the car, not before Alyssa jumps into the passenger seat. 

“Um?” 

“What Saltzman?” Alyssa smiles, “I’m made for good company.” 

Lizzie rolls her eyes, “this is going to be a long trip for me, isn’t it?” 

Alyssa grins, plugging her phone into the aux cord, “only if you make it one.” 

Lizzie sighs and puts the car into reverse, driving towards the nearest veterinarian, which so happened to be in Mystic Falls. 

Along the way there, Alyssa makes conversation, which isn’t shocking to Lizzie. 

What’s shocking is how well they were clicking. Regardless of their history. 

When Lizzie began dating Hope, and could feel the changes between her and Alyssa start to rise. It wasn’t until recently (and very obviously) where things started to grow for the pair. Alyssa was making it more noticeable that she valued their friendship, making more of an effort to be part of her life. 

“So colleges?” 

“What?” 

Lizzie shakes her head, somehow she was channeling her inner sister and remaining stuck in her head rather than focused on the conversation in front of her. 

“What are your plans for college?” Alyssa repeats the question, eying the blonde-haired girl. 

“I haven’t thought about it yet.” 

Alyssa scoffs, “I never pegged you for a liar S.” 

“I’m not lying!” 

Lizzie wasn’t lying, completely. She may have planned for college, but she didn’t plan on falling in love. With Hope being an actual part of her future, she was willing to adjust those plans. Hence why she didn’t think about it yet. 

“You expect me to believe that you, Ms. Lizzie ‘winner of Ms. Mystic Falls Pageant because she’s been planning about it since she left the womb’ Saltzman doesn’t have a plan for college? You have a plan for literally everything.” 

Lizzie, being in denial, immediately rebuttals, “that’s not true!” 

“Yes it is!” Alyssa insists, “do you remember that time in first grade where we got paired up to do culture project on a country of our choice. Before I could even suggest which country I wanted us to do, you pulled out a detailed proposal, right to which food we would end up recreating for this class.” 

Lizzie thought back to that time. They ended doing a project on Switzerland. It may have took them hours to come up with the actual desert, but when they did, it ended up being a hit. 

“Okay, fine. I may be a planner, but believe me when I say that I haven’t planned anything regarding colleges yet. It’s fine though, I still have a year to figure it out anyways.” 

Alyssa narrows her glance, but before she could say anything else, Lizzie pulls into the parking lot of the animal center. 

Hastily, she jumps out of the car and carries the brown dog inside. 

After what felt like hours of waiting, she finally hears some confirmation back from the vet that explains the condition of the dog and their plan of care. For the most part, Lizzie understood the most important part, Jasper is going to be fine. 

“Oh thank God,” Lizzie exhales, immediately pulling out her phone. 

“So, what’s the game plan now?” 

“Huh?” 

“I mean, hypothetically, this dog-”

“Jasper,” Lizzie corrects.

Alyssa nods, “yes, so let’s say Jasper is okay. Is your dad really going to let us keep a stray dog that the younger kiddos have been feeding for the past month at the Salvatore school?” 

Lizzie scratches her head, okay so she hasn’t thought that far ahead, but she knew that Cassidy was waiting for an update, and the least she could do was provide one. 

“Let me just shoot MG a quick text, letting him know what’s going on so that he gives an update to Cassidy and then we can come up with a game plan.”

Alyssa shrugs and goes back to her seat. Lizzie decides to call MG, relaying the news to him before joining Alyssa in the waiting room. 

“You know what I could go for right now?” 

Lizzie raises her eyebrow, “breakfast?” 

Alyssa grins, “did you just read my mind Saltzman?” 

Lizzie laughs, “no, I’ve been smelling the same amazing aromas you’ve been inhaling from next door.”   
Alyssa beams, “so let’s we hurry up here and get some food, please.” 

Lizzie couldn’t help but agree. She was starving. 

“Fine, let’s figure out how to get Jasper a temporary living situation before we bring him back tomorrow.” 

“You’re seriously considering keeping him?”

Lizzie shrugs, “why not?” 

“No reason. Can’t wait to see the aneurysm Dr. S will have when he finds out. But as far as I’m concerned, I’m in. As long as I get my waffles!” 

Lizzie rolls her eyes, “you’re literally a child.” 

Alyssa sticks her tongue out, prompting the taller girl to break out into fits of laughter, “okay, I’m walking away now.” 

Lizzie manages to work something out with the animal clinic, ensuring Jasper a place to stay for the time-being while she worked on getting his ‘home’ ready for him back at the Salvatore school. Once she finished signing the paperwork, she could feel Alyssa immediately pull her away towards the diner next door for some quality breakfast. 

When the waiter arrives with their food, Alyssa can barely contain her excitement. 

“Nothing ever beats breakfast for dinner,” Alyssa signs, her mouth exploding from how delicious her dish was. 

Lizzie shakes her head, very much enjoying how comfortable and enjoyable Alyssa was. It made her question how they haven’t hung out like these past few years. 

They chat a bit more throughout the night, getting to really know one another. 

“You know what? You’re not all bad Saltzman,” Alyssa comments. 

Lizzie stares at her, “could say the same about you Chang.” 

It felt refreshing to have this start with someone. Lizzie enjoyed Alyssa’s company in many different ways. 

Who could’ve seen it all go so wrong so fast?

* * *

“Jo, we’re here.” 

Josie looks up at the flashing bright ‘EMERGENCY’ sign that hung in the back. 

Unable to say anything to Maya, she unbuckles her seatbelt and rushes inside. When she reaches the front desk, she finds that she is incapable of saying anything at all. 

“We’re looking for Lizzie Saltzman,” Maya speaks up. 

The front lady eyes both girls before asking, “and you are?” 

“I’m her sister, Josie Saltzman.” 

“Give me one moment,” the receptionist types away, leaving Josie feeling worse than she did five minutes ago, if that were even possible. 

“Okay, she’s in room 18,” the lady responds. Josie mumbles a thank you before taking off, with Maya not too far behind. 

When she reaches the room, she knocks on the door, her mind already doing that thing where she spirals and assumes the worst. 

“Come in,” a familiar voice speaks up.

Josie opens the door and sees her sister, in a hospital gown, with an arm brace, looking surprisingly better than she assumed. 

“Jo! What are you doing here?” Lizzie asks, before the second figure enters the room, “and you brought Maya?”

“Elizabeth Jenna Saltzman,” Josie growls, “how dare you get hurt and not call me right away?”   
Before Lizzie could respond, Josie pulls her into a hug, her tears cascading ever so quickly. 

“Dad didn’t actually give me any details but if you ever do this shit again, I’ll personally beat you up myself,” Josie mumbles, unable to let go of her sister. 

Lizzie pulls away, shocked, “dad called you?” 

“Yeah, who else?” 

Lizzie glances over to the curtain, which was most likely being used to cover up the other patient in the room. 

“Alyssa do you have anything you want to say about that?”

Josie’s eyes widen, before turning to open the curtain slightly, revealing Alyssa Chang, in all her glory wearing the same hospital gown but with a cast on her leg. 

“Alyssa?” Josie’s mouth drops, before narrowing, “okay, someone better start talking right now.” 

After breakfast at that amazing diner, the pair ended up taking the long way home, per Alyssa’s suggestion. 

“It was not a suggestion, it was challenge,” Alyssa corrects, “and I didn’t think Saltzman here would do it.” 

Lizzie rolls her eyes, “there you go, underestimating me.” 

“Anyways, we were driving on this really long dark road, when we realized it was kind of not a road-”

“But a trail!” Alyssa finishes, as the pair ensue in fits of laughter.

For the most part, Josie and Maya both remained confused. Not only was the story confusing in itself, but the way they were acting was throwing them off. 

Josie could see that they were obviously getting along, maybe even better than usual. Eying her sister, there was something more definitely going on. 

“Anyways-”

“Liz?” another voice appears.

The moment Hope and Alaric enter the room, Josie notices the change appear on Alyssa’s face, not that she was directly paying attention to her, but she could definitely sense the irritation mixed with jealousy. 

“Liz oh my god,” Hope runs to her other side, immediately flinging herself onto Lizzie. Just like how Josie was earlier, she could tell that Hope had been crying. 

“Lizzie,” Alaric steps forward, embracing them into a larger hug. 

Lizzie melts into their embrace before pulling away, “you almost missed it.” 

“Missed what?” Hope questions, wiping away some fallen tears.

Lizzie looks over at Alyssa and breaks into a smile, “the story of how we ended up here. We didn’t even hit the good part before you came in.” 

Hope watches the moment that Alyssa and Lizzie share, her eyes narrowing at the other girl in the bed. 

“Before you ask, I’m doing peachy Mikaelson,” Alyssa quips, grinning at the red-headed girl. 

Josie could see Hope attempting to maintain composure, before remembering that Maya was also in the room and this mix was a recipe for disaster just waiting to occur. 

Lizzie and Alyssa continue their story, bouncing off one another almost flirtatiously, which awed Josie. Because of all people, Lizzie and Alyssa were the ones who she did not really see getting together. At the same time, she could see Hope’s anger rising through the roof. 

The story of the ‘accident’ was fairly innocent. They had taken the wrong path home causing them to drive back from where they came from, deciding to make another pit stop for dessert, per Alyssa’s cravings. When they approached the shop, the most bizarre thing happened. There was whimpering coming from below a ditch near the shop. 

Alyssa decided to play superhero and attempt to grab the animal from below, but since it was dark, she ended up slipping on some dirt and sliding, and hurting her ankle, hence the brace. 

“Saltzman here was laughing while I wince in pain,” Alyssa rolls her eyes, ensuing more giggles from the taller girl. 

“So I call for some help, but I must’ve been too close to the edge because after the phone call I end up tripping and falling right on top of Alyssa.” 

“Just say you’re in love with me and go,” Alyssa jokes. 

Lizzie gives her a look and Josie’s breath hitches as she changes her stare onto Hope, who was visibly fuming red. 

“So what happened next?” Josie rushes out, prompting the conversation. 

Maya could also see what was happening, but remained neutral. Not wanting to get involved in any way. 

“I must’ve hurt my arm,” Lizzie explains, “and then the emergency people came, helped us out, and brought us here to make sure we didn’t have any major fractures.” 

“Well, that sounds like quite the night,” Alaric says, “I’m glad you two are okay. Why don’t you both get some rest and I’ll find the doctor to discuss discharging y’all.” 

“Okay Dad,” Lizzie smiles.  
  
“Sounds Great Dr. S,” Alyssa says at the same time. 

When Alaric leaves, Maya decides to excuse herself, “I have to make a quick phone call to my brother, I’ll be right back.”

With Josie and Hope remaining in the room, Josie could sense the tension brooding. Deciding she didn’t want to be here when the pin dropped, she starts another conversation directing back to her. 

“Everything is okay though, right?” 

Lizzie nods, “it was an accident Jo.” 

Josie nods, holding onto her sisters’ hand. The girls stay there for awhile, just relishing in the presence of one another. Occasionally Alyssa will make a joke, Lizzie would laugh, Hope would glare without trying, and Maya would just remain quiet. 

Then there were times where Hope would show affection, Alyssa would glare, and Josie would share a look with Maya trying to convey the ‘do you see what’s happening?’ 

Meanwhile, Lizzie remained clueless, just happy to be around the people she cared about regardless of the circumstances.   
Eventually, as things began to settle down for Josie, a wave of guilt rests heavily on her chest. 

Her eyes travel to the clock on the table that read the time. 

_8:35PM. _

Looking around, she sees that Lizzie is more than taken care of, with Hope unable to leave her side and Alyssa unable to keep her eyes off the taller blonde. 

_She should be okay_, Josie reminds herself, before realizing that Maya was nowhere to be found. 

“Hey Liz, would you be okay if I left for an hour?” Josie asks, her eyes focused directly on her sister. Lizzie, raises her eyebrow before nodding, “yeah sure, I’ll see you at home then.” 

Josie hums in agreement, pulling her sister into another hug. This time a bit tighter than usual. Even if the accident that led to this was out of pure good deed, Josie couldn’t help but remain worried for her other half. 

“I’m fine Jo,” Lizzie soothes, “just come back with ice cream and I’ll be better before you know it.” 

Josie shakes her head, smiling softly. She bids a goodbye to Alyssa and Hope, before walking out the door. 

Sure, she was late. And sure, she probably already ruined her only chance with the green-eyed girl, but that means she had nothing else to lose. At this point, the only thing left to do she was apologize and explain everything to Penelope.

Honestly, it was the least she could do. 

With the clock ticking behind her, Maya drives Josie back to the diner. 

* * *

After getting off the phone with Izzie, Penelope rests her head in her hands, unable to gather herself. Another few minutes go by before she idly gathers her things. Casey’s house wasn’t that far from here, but it was far enough that she didn’t want to keep Izzie waiting. 

And from the way it sounded, her night was not going as planned either. 

_Definitely a Park thing_, Penelope thinks to herself. 

Okay, now it was getting old. 

Penelope begins walking towards the diner parking lot before a voice calls out too her.

“Hey!” Penelope turns around, to find a curly-haired boy with hazel brown eyes staring back at her. For the most part he looked unthreatening, rocking a mystic fall diner apron above his plaid shirt and blue jeans. The only remotely odd thing about him was the frazzled look plastered across his face. 

“Yes?”

The boy freezes, his expression now mixed with fear and utter embarrassment. It’s as if this was a plan he didn’t entirely think through. 

“Hi, you don’t happen to be-” he pauses, his eyes squinting now. He begins mumbling, which just further confuses her. 

“Actually I should probably with my name. I’m um, well my name is Landon,” he introduces, “Landon Kirby.” 

Penelope remains aloof, because this was an odd interaction, even coming from a guy like him, “okay Landon Kirby, it’s been a pleasure chatting with you but I really have to go, so-” 

“No wait, you can’t!” Landon steps forward, not in a aggressive manner, but close enough for Penelope to react negatively. 

She lifts up her keys, revealing a small sized black box shaped item, directing it at his face. 

When Landon sees the bolts of electricity appear, he steps back, his arms now up.

“Look, you seem like a decent dude Mr. Landon Kirby, but I wouldn’t take another step if I were you,” Penelope declares, not in the exact mood to get into a fight, but very willing if needed. 

“Look, look, I was only told to stall you from leaving,” Landon explains. 

“Stall me? Why?”

“I-” Landon flusters, his hands still up. He was visibly terrified but Penelope was not about to let that lower her guard. She wasn’t the only who approached a stranger so suddenly. 

“For me,” another voice appears, softer and much more recognizable. 

Penelope quickly around to find hazel brown eyes staring apologetically at her, holding the most beautiful bouquet of flowers in her hand. 

“Josie?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW. am i updating within the same week? is this real life yo? 
> 
> n e whom, is this a filler? maybe. 
> 
> did i waste your time with alyssa and lizzie build up? shore. 
> 
> so this inspo came about after i remember watching the episode (before ** SPOILER ** alyssa sent the twins to the prison world) but the witches were defending lizzie against sebastian and alyssa said something along lizzie being too good for him so here is alysizze or lisyssa yo idk but here is more angst to the hizzie storyline. 
> 
> also to be given the chance for lizzie to just say a big fat no to sebastian? i just had too. no sizzie fans welcomed here 
> 
> DONT WORRY posie and cazzie next chap. that is for sure a given. 
> 
> ENJOY pls lmk ur feelings down below :) 
> 
> as always, stay hydrated my dears


	13. there’s something I need to say

Josie steps out of the room, unsure of her next move. 

She was not the type of person who would be stuck in this situation, but yet again she’s plagued with guilt at the thought of hurting the green-eyed girl. 

Tonight should’ve been perfect. She planned it out so that it would be. 

Leaning her back against the wall, she closes her eyes. Her heart knew what needed to be done, but it took her a second for it to react with her body. 

“Hey!”. Josie’s eyes flutter open, a solemn smile appearing on her face. 

“Ready to go?” Maya holds out a white Starbucks cup, “don’t worry, it’s hot chocolate.” 

Josie accepts the warm treat, mumbling, “thank you.” 

For the most part, the ride back to the diner was agonizingly quiet. Josie’s mind scattered, clutching onto the flowers for some sense of control. What was she even hoping for? The chance of Penelope waiting there felt slim and the closer they got, the more uneasy her gut feeling grew.   
  
“Pretty flowers,” Maya comments. The first comment she’s made all day. Which was unusual for their friendship, but Josie knew better than to push her to speak when she wasn’t ready. 

Josie muses, “you think? I was planning on throwing them out, but maybe I can give it to Lizzie.”

“For what? She fell into a ditch and broke her arm. She didn’t even save the dog, if anything you should give it to Alyssa.” 

Josie gapes, “you noticed it too.”

Maya makes a face, “I’m shocked Hope break her other leg.”

Josie giggles, “Hope is too good for that. She’ll probably do it when Lizzie isn’t looking.” 

They both laugh before pausing and falling into an awkward silence. Josie stares out the window, the faint sound of music fluttering in the background. It wasn’t loud enough to drown out the awkwardness but enough to keep it at bay. 

“There’s something I need to say.” 

Even in the darkness, Josie could see the ache stricken look written across Maya’s face. Instinctively, she reaches over to hold Maya’s free hand. 

Maya tenses up, quickly removing her hand. In attempt to ignore it her initial reaction, Josie persists. 

“Whatever it is, I’m here for you.” 

Maya slows to a stoplight, she can fell eyes staring at her in the reflection. For moment, she turns and looks into those beautiful hazel brown eyes. 

“You can talk to me,” Josie reassures. 

Maya immediately breaks away, looking straight ahead. On cue, the light turns green and their off again. 

“The flowers,” Maya mentions. 

Josie tilts her head, “what about them?” 

“Who were they for?” 

“Nobody,” Josie expresses. 

“It’s for a girl,” Maya suggests, “isn’t it?”

Silence. 

It was hard for Josie to admit she was feeling this way because then it would make it all so real. And, if it is real, then she ruined something before she even had the chance to experience it. 

“Yes, a girl I barely know,” Josie responds. 

“From the diner, right?” 

Josie nods, “we were supposed to meet tonight, before the incident with Lizzie, but I stood her up and therefore ruined my chance. ”

“Why not text her and explain the situation?” 

“I would if I had her number.”

Maya blinks a few times, her eyes going back and forth between the road and Josie, “you’re telling me, that you were going on a date with a girl you don’t even know and you didn’t score her number yet?” 

Josie shakes her head causing Maya to break out into bits of laughter. 

“And I thought I was the hopeless one. Wait not, scratch that, you are now above Hope and Lizzie for large dumbass energy award.” Josie pouts in her seat like a petulant child, “she’s never going to talk to me again.”   
  
“I’m sure she’ll understand,” Maya comforts, “it was an emergency.” 

Josie shakes her head, “no, this is basically the second time I’ve blown her off.” 

“Well you know what they say, third times a charm.” 

“It’s just, I _really_ like this girl,” Josie confesses, “I’ve only had one conversation with her and I can’t seem to get her out of my mind. I know it doesn’t make sense, because I barely know her, but I can’t help this feeling that we’re connected.”

Maya listens intently, her chest suddenly tightening. It was one thing to be there for Josie when she need her. It’s another to hear her say she wants someone else. 

“Where did you say you two would meet?” 

“Near the diner,” Josie recalls, “closer to the diner parking lot, I assume. Honestly, we were vague on the location, not like that matters now.” 

Once they reach another stoplight, Maya reaches over to grab her phone and quickly send a text. When she looks up to check the color of the light, she is met with a scorn look. 

Josie gapes at her, disdain stricken across her face. 

“I know what you’re about to say Saltzman,” Maya places her phone back onto the cup holder, “but trust me, it was important.” 

Josie shakes her head, “you know how I feel about texting and driving.” 

“We were at a red light,” Maya argues. 

Josie crosses her arms. 

Maya sighs, “okay, I’m sorry, you’re right. It doesn’t matter if it was a red light or not, I shouldn’t be on my phone. I know the mantra and I promise it won’t happen again.” 

Josie muses. Her eyes leveling back onto the flowers. The moment the diner was in view, her stomach churned a bit. 

Maya places the car in park, before reaching to grab her phone. 

Josie sits still, unsure of what to do next. She should probably just get into her car and head home. 

“Josie?” Maya reaches out, “we’re here now.” 

“Thanks for the ride Maya,” Josie whispers, stepping out of the car. She begins walking in the opposite direction, which catching Maya’s attention.

“Where are you going?” 

Josie halts, turning to face the dark-haired girl, “I parked on the other side.”

“No, I mean,” Maya stops, her phone going off again. She takes a quick glance, her eyes widening. 

“Shit,” she mutters underneath her breath. 

“We gotta go now!” Maya yelps, immediately reaching for Josie’s hand to drag her in the other direction. 

“What?” Josie questions, resisting. 

Maya clears her throat, “look Jos, I know you’re nervous about this girl and you think you’ve messed up. The truth is, maybe you didn’t mess up and that hypothetically she’s waiting for you in front of the diner.”“Wh-what?” 

“From the way you talk about her, you like this girl a lot and as much as this hurts to say, you deserve to be happy.”

“What are you talking about? I blew it okay? This is my second time standing her up. I blew my chance.”

Maya shakes her head, “just tell her the truth Jos. If she gets mad, that’s on her. You had every reason to run off and anyone who doesn’t understand that, doesn’t deserve to be with you, but you have to be willing to give her that chance.” 

“But-”

“No,” Maya adamantly shakes her head, “no buts this time. You can’t-”

Maya pauses, staring deeply into those hazel brown eyes. Her chest compressing. Swiftly, she reaches up to touch Josie’s cheek, knowing this maybe the last time she could say what she needed to say, even if it was just this once. 

“You should always be honest with your feelings. When you hurt someone, you apologize. When you love someone for as long as you’ve known them, you should tell them before it’s too late. Before your chance passes by and then you wake up and realize that they’ll never see you as more than a friend… before they meet someone else and you lose your only chance at ever being honest.” 

They both stay silent for what feels like the longest minute.

Josie lets Maya’s words sink in, before it suddenly clicks, like a barrier being cleared up and Josie finally seeing everything in a new light, seeing Maya in a new light. 

Josie finally swallows thickly, “Maya.”

“Josie,” Maya says softly, in an almost jokingly tone.

“I-”

Maya shakes her head, “you don’t have to do that Saltzman. We don’t have to say it. It doesn’t matter now.” 

Josie’s jaw drops, “of course it matters!” 

Maya’s phone buzzes again. 

“We gotta go now,” Maya grips Josie’s arm and drags her towards the front of the diner, where the guest parking lot remained. 

“Maya, wait!” 

“We can’t. Or else Landon is going to be in trouble.”

_Landon?_

When they reach the front, Josie immediately spots Penelope aiming a taser at Landon, who was holding up his hands up. Even from far away, she could see the fear in his eyes. 

“Look, look, I was only told to stall you from leaving,” she hears Landon pleads. 

“Stall me? Why?”

“I-” Landon flusters, he looks over her and make eye contact with Maya. Josie can see him relax a bit, taking a step back from the green-eyed girl. 

Maya nudges Josie forward, giving her a reassuring nod. 

Josie takes a deep breath. 

“For me,” Josie declares, gripping the flowers in her hand. She could feel her stomach dip with nerves, as she is met with piercing green eyes. 

“Josie?” 

Josie freezes. In the midst of boldness, she felt a little edge of guilt seep into her thoughts. Leaving her sister at the hospital, not realizing her best friend had be falling for her, and standing up such a beautiful girl for the second time this past month. And now, she 

Was she mad, upset, disappointed? All of those emotions suddenly fitting the unrevealing face staring intently at her, which made this whole confrontation thing feel much worse. 

They both fall into an awkward silence, Penelope anticipating Josie’s next move. 

Maya coughs, breaking the tension between them all. 

“Landon, we probably head inside,” Maya walks over to the smaller boy, putting her arms around him, “you know how Ethan feels when we leave him alone in there.” 

Landon hums in agreement, “sorry again,” he mumbles to Penelope before being pulled away. 

With Josie and Penelope now alone in the parking lot, Josie awkwardly looks down at the floor. 

“I-” they both say at the same time. 

“You should probably go first,” Penelope offers, her tone rushed but soft nonetheless.

Josie nods, “I’m sorry. Tonight, was supposed to be perfect or well I was hoping it would be perfect, but knowing me, I knew something would mess it up or well I knew I would mess it up and it’s…” 

Josie rambles, explaining everything from the tiny detail of picking up the flowers to the phone call to the hospital visit and even detailing the moment leading her up to now.

(The only piece of the story removed was the part where one of her best friends confessed her feelings for her. That was something she needed to process first, but for right now her focus was apologizing to Penelope.) 

“And I would’ve called and let you know, but I can’t even seem to do one thing right, which is get your number apparently.” 

Josie exhales. Truth be told, if she hadn’t already irritated the smaller girl, she must’ve done so by now. 

“But I get it if you don’t want to see me again,” Josie rambles, “if it counts for anything, after I found out my sister was okay, all I could think about how wrong it was of me to stand you up and for that I am sorry…again.” 

At that Josie holds out the bouquet for Penelope to grab.

Penelope stares at her, stunned, causing Josie to anxiously want to curl up and never be seen again.  
What was she thinking? 

“757-822-5991.”

Josie raises her eyebrow, “what?”

“My phone number,” Penelope reaffirms, “because Jojo, I’ve already waited three hours to see you, I’m sure I can wait another day, or however long it takes.”

Josie blinks, caught off guard. 

Jojo?

“And as much as I would love to stay, I have to go pick up my cousin, she’s kind of waiting on me.”

“757-111-7991!” Josie blurts out, still gripping onto the flowers. 

Penelope smiles, pulling out her phone. She jots down the number before accepting the flowers. 

“Thank you for coming back,” she grins, “and for these beautiful sunflowers.” 

“You’re the beautiful one,” Josie murmurs, before realizing what she said, she stammers, “I mean, yes, no problem at all.” 

Penelope laughs softly, turning to walk to her car. Before she enters, she stops and looks back at Josie. 

“Goodnight Sweet Jojo.” 

Josie awkwardly waves goodbye, before blurting out a goodbye. She stays, watching Penelope leave the establishment before turning to walk towards the diner. 

As soon as she enters the establishment, her phone rings. 

_Lizzie_, she remembers. 

**_From +757-822-5991_**  
🌻🥰

* * *

When the cousins finally arrive at their dorm room, Izzie immediately collapses onto her bed, her nightly run starting to take her as its victim. She lays solemnly as Penelope wanders around. 

“I know I promise I wouldn’t say anything, but can we please discuss the fact that it took me thirty minutes to find you? I still can’t believe you ran through the park and into another neighborhood, all while wearing that dress.” 

Izzie lifts her feet up, showcasing her white shoes, “I was wearing the right shoes.” 

Penelope disapprovingly stares at her. Izzie shrugs and lifts herself up to change into some pajamas, grabbing some water from the mini fridge. She returns to her bed, snuggling into her blankets. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Penelope offers, leaning against their bathroom door. 

She contemplates before shaking her head, “not really.” 

Penelope nods and saunters into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her, giving Izzie some space to think. 

Tonight was a mess. By far, the worst type of mess. Nothing irritated her more than seeing Evan’s smug face appear, as if he had any right to be there. And Casey, immediately defending him. In her rational brain, she knew that it was a Casey thing to do, but her heart spoke another kind of truth. 

And yet, after all that. There was only one sentence clouding her thoughts. 

_I thought you two were a couple. _

Those were the words that seemingly haunted her. The mere audacity of this nobody girl she barely even knew. How dare she say those types of things? Especially in front of everyone like that. In front of Casey. They were just friends, doing friendly things. What could she possibly see that her and Casey couldn’t? Why was Evan’s annoying face suddenly forming such agitated feelings in her chest? And to top it all off, why did she actually feel good knowing that someone connected her with Casey in that way? 

Good god, her mind was flying all over the place. All leading back to one person. One name. 

Casey Gardner. 

Unable to rest, she decides to pull out her phone and searches for Casey’s name. 

_ **To Newton** _   
_Sorry about dinner. Talk tomorrow? _

No, that didn’t sound right. Sounded too standoff-ish. What were they even going to talk about? 

_Hey, I’m sorry about tonight. How’s Sam?_

No.

_Hey, I’m not sorry for what I said. I am sorry for how I reacted. Can we just go back to the way things were?_

Back to the way things were. What did that even mean at this point? 

After what felt like hours of staring at potential text message that was never going to actually send, Izzie went against apologizing. It’s not like she was in the wrong. What she was saying was the truth? So what it made her look like a jealous girlfriend? 

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Penelope speaks up, scaring her, “I can literally hear your thoughts and it keeps making this grunting sound.” 

Izzie scowls before deciding to change the topic, “how about you tell me about your date with Mr. Mystery Man?” 

Penelope freezes, which further intrigues Izzie. 

(She’s never seen her cousin react this way. Not in the few months she’s known the girl.)

“It was… unexpected,” Penelope answers, “she actually stood me up and instead of being rational and going home, I waited for her. Right before I almost left to come get you, she appeared, explained everything, and now we’re texting.” 

_SHE? _

Penelope watches at Izzie’s eyes widen before breaking out into a grin. 

“I know I probably should’ve told you earlier before the date when you assumed it was a guy and it’s not like I’m hiding my sexuality or anything, I just thought I would much rather have this conversation with you when we actually had time to talk about it.”   
Izzie nods, “so you’re into girls?” 

Penelope shrugs, “I’m bisexual. Best of both worlds. Boys and girls alike, but if you’re asking me, I definitely prefer girls.” 

Izzie hums in agreement, “so this girl you’re talking too, sounds like a lot of work. Does she go to Clatyon?” 

Penelope chuckles, smirking at Izzie, “see that, I won’t disclose.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because my dearest cousin, being here as long as I’ve been, this town is as small as any small town could be and the last thing I need is you finding out who she is.” 

Izzie rolls her eyes, “would that really be so bad? I am quite charming, like you said, it’s the Park in me. I’m sure we’ll get along.” 

Penelope rolls her eyes, “I don’t doubt it. But, it’s complicated Iz. I barely know this girl since we just met and selfishly, I want some time to get to know her before I start introducing her to you and everyone else.” 

Izzie groans, “fine, but just know you’re missing out.”

“Missing out on what exactly?”

“That’s for you to find out,” Izzie teases. 

Penelope picks up one of her throw pillow and tosses it at Izzie, who flicks her off in return. Penelope’s phone then goes off, capturing the green-eyed girl’s attention. 

They both fall quiet, Penelope leaning against her bed stand typing away at her phone. Izzie steals a few looks every now and then, only to witness a sort of lovesick smile she never thought her cousin would make. It was almost irritating. 

Part of her wasn’t just ready to drop Penelope’s coming out conversation. However, as time begin to pass by, they felt further from the topic. And now, that is all she could think about. 

Could she be bisexual? Sexuality is fluid and well, she’s only ever been with boys. Take Nate for example, the most recent boy aka mistake she’s made. As great of a guy he was (up until the cheating thing). Even then, their relationship never felt quite right. There was always something missing. She could recall describing it to Casey as if he were from a different planet and won’t ever know what it’s like to be on her planet. 

For the longest time, she thought it was regarding money and opportunity. Nate was given much more material than she could ever be offered, and yet, it seems to run deeper than that. When her and Nate kissed, it always felt forced and empty. But with Casey… it was different. 

Being with women didn’t sound repulsive. 

At that thought, it suddenly became overwhelming for her. She didn’t even know who she was yet, how is she supposed to have a clue on what she liked. 

Deciding she didn’t want to think anymore, she closes her lamp, throwing her phone on the nightstand and shutting her eyes. 

Hopefully sleep would clear things up for her. 

The following morning came by faster than expected. She was up earlier than usual. Unable to fall back asleep, Izzie chose to be productive, going on an early run. 

With regionals coming up and that flag football game that Casey convinced her to do, being in shape remained as crucial than ever. UCLA wasn’t going to just take anyone. They were going to take the best, so she had to be the best. 

Running wasn’t always just a sport to Izzie. Before it became her only way out of this town, she did it because it was fun. Now, it was all about her times. Her skills needed to remain sharp. If Casey wasn’t going to practice with her, she would do it herself. 

She began running away from the school, letting her thoughts from the night before riddle her mind. Before she knew it, she was in her own apartment complex. 

Taking a quick peak at the time, she begins bolting further into the complex. 

“Honey, I’m home!” she yells, once inside the apartment. Within a few minutes, she is being bombarded by four little arms, clinging onto each leg. 

“IZZIE YOU’RE BACK,” a little voice screams. That was Koby for sure. 

“ZEE” Mila yells. 

Izzie smiles, softly pulling both young-ins off her, while kneeling to give them both hugs. While hugging them, she feels another pair of arms hold them. In front of her was Javie, the second oldest (following her). 

“I want pancakes,” Koby declares, using his pouty dog eyes. 

Izzie gives him a look, but is soon defeated when Mila joins in, “with bacon!!!” 

Izzie shakes her head, “okay, I’ll stay and cook but you know the rules.” 

“Get dressed first, eat breakfast second, brush teeth third,” they recite in unison. 

Izzie nods endearingly, “well the time isn’t stopping for anyone, go get dressed and then come down for dinner.” 

With that, three pairs of legs immediately bolt for the stairs. Izzie makes her way to the kitchen, only to find it in worse condition than when she last left it. Grumbling, she gets the work, heating up the pan, while also attempting to clean up a bit. 

“Oh, it’s you,” a voice appears, immediately souring the mood. “It’s a weekday and you aren’t being requested, so why exactly are you hear?” 

Izzie grips onto the spatula, doing her best to control her emotions. 

“Good morning to you too Mom,” she responds, flipping the pancake. 

“Did your father’s side of the family throw you out? I knew we should’ve never trust that Penelope girl, all they bring is bad news…” 

“I’m making pancakes, did you want some?” Izzie calmly interrupts. 

Instead, her mother walks towards the fridge, still continuing to grumble. Izzie watches as she pours herself a cup of wine, talking her medication.   
“Are you serious?” Izzie blows, unable to keep it in any longer.

“It’s just one cup Iz,” her mother explains “no need to get all worked on it.” 

“Just one cup?” Izzie’s voice growing, “and how about those medications?”

“I’ll be fine Isabella,” her mom demands. 

Before Izzie can scold her, she hears the rumbling sound of footsteps trampling down the stairs. As high as the tension was between them too, there was always this unspoken agreement to retain the peace when around the kids. 

“Hey there my little musketeers,” Izzie greets, pushing down her feelings of disappointment and fear, “who wants pancakes?”

Koby and Mila immediately screech. Javie on the other hand, stares between Izzie and his mother, before nodding his head in agreement. 

They have breakfast in a sort of peace, every now and then, her mother would make a comment that Izzie would attempt to ignore. Eventually, it was time for the kids to brush their teeth and get ready to go to school. 

Izzie quickly puts everything away, ignoring her mom as much as possible. 

When she finishes, she walks outside, not sparing a single goodbye. 

(Not that it would matter since her mother was already passed out on the couch). 

When her younger siblings came out, they begin walking towards the bus stop. With Koby and Mila a bit ahead, Javie trails behind in silence. 

“Thank you for visiting,” Javie speaks up, “you know, mom isn’t always that bad. She’s trying.” 

Izzie nods, looking straight ahead, “I’m trying too Javie.”

They make it to the end of the street, just in time to witness the bright yellow bus approaching the stop. Izzie kneels to fix Koby’s collar, tie Mila’s bow, and straigten Javie’s tie. 

“Okay, you know the drill. I’ll see you all real soon. I miss you and love you. Do good in school and make good choices,” with that Izzie pulls them into a large group hug, before letting go. Waiting for them to pull away, she begins making her way back to campus. 

* * *

The following morning Casey woke up feeling guiltier than usual, that even her morning run couldn’t fix her mood. 

Working out things with Evan for the price of messing things up with Izzie.   
  
Pulling out her phone, she checks if there are any messages. Sighing, she decides to grab breakfast. If she was going to face Izzie today, it would be on a full stomach. 

As she walked into the kitchen, she senses a difference in the mood. 

Quiet, peaceful. All too good to be true. Seeing the patio open, she walks in to find Elsa speaking to plants? As if that made any more sense than the drama going on in her life. 

“Snug as a bug.” 

_OKAAAAAY_. Was this Elsa’s call for help? 

“You need friends,” she comments. 

“Hi honey,” Elsa sadly picks up another plant, “Paige is coming to pick up my little buddies. You on your way to school?”

Casey decides against making another comment, “yeah. Where I get to see Izzie. Extra fun cause we’re in a fight.”

A fight she started. So why did she feel all wrong for not apologizing? 

“Oh no. What happened? Do you need me to help?”  
Oh no, not again. The last time her mom tried to help, she hosted a party and that did not end well. 

“Nah, there’s nothing you can do to help. Sometimes I just say stuff. You don’t have to do anything about it.”

Elsa nods vigorously, “but I can if you want?” 

Casey laughs, “why? The plants are leaving so you need somebody to tinker with?”

“No” Elsa quickly denies, turning her head to face the window, “hmm… maybe. IF you need me-”

“I don’t,” Casey immediately responds. This was her issue. Hers and Izzie to be exact. 

“Oh fine,” Elsa gives in. 

“Hey there!” another voice pipes up, capturing both of their attentions. Casey looks up and immediately sees a tablecloth chirping in her ear. 

“Oh, thank you so much for taking care of my babies, Mrs. Gardner,” Paige cheers, clapping her hand excitedly. 

_Definitely my cue to leave,_ Casey thinks to herself. 

“So, is this the look you usually wear to garden?” she asks. Maybe she really couldn’t help herself. It was too good. 

“Job interviews!” Paige responds, with equal excitement, “I’ve got three today. You know, it would be really easy for me to just slip into a pit of despair right now, but as Amelia Earhart said, the most effective way to do it is just to do it. So I’m just doing it.” 

After that, most of what Paige says is not relevant to her, until she mentions Sal E. Sour Cream. 

The potato place that Sam hates so much. 

Once Paige leaves, Casey takes that as her cue to also make a break for it. 

When she arrives to campus, she surprisingly does not see Izzie right away. They don’t have all the same classes today, but she was used to seeing her after every period. 

What they did have today was Chemistry. 

And they sat together.

When Casey arrived at her desk, Izzie was already there, scrolling on her phone. Without saying a single word, Casey takes her seat, pulling out her notes. It’s not like she actually paid attention. She just knew better. 

After what felt like forever, Izzie finally speaks up.

* * *

Watching Casey take her seat and not say anything frustrated her. 

She knew Casey was upset, but not this upset. And after the stint her mom pulled this morning. Today was just not turning out to be her kind of day. 

“You still mad at me?” she confronts, eyes narrowing. 

Casey turns, “yeah.” 

Izzie rolls her eyes. 

“You were suck a dick to Evan at the party. Why’d you say all that?” 

_YOU’RE GONNA LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME THAT I’M WRONG?_ Izzie wanted to scream. _AM I WRONG? _

“Because it was true,” she calmly responds. He flaked on your dad and then showed up like nothing was wrong. I was simply defending your family. 

“It wasn’t your place."

“I thought it was.”

“Okay, well I guess I just have to be careful what I tell you from now on.”

Ouch. 

“Guess you do,” she spats back. 

Casey turns and mocks, “guess you do.”

Izzie gives her a look mixed with confusion. A child. Casey was acting like a literal child. 

“Sorry,” Casey apologizes, looking down, “that was childish.”

For the rest of class, they carry on in silence. 

When the bell rings, Casey immediately bolts for the door, which just further irritates Izzie. 

_Fine_. She thinks to herself before bolting in the other direction. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI THERE AGAIN. I am so sorry it has been a minute. I had a plan to release a chapter every week but then that didn't pan out and now with quarantine I'm between wasting my life away or actually updating. Hopefully I wont keep you all waiting for the next chapter. 
> 
> There are a few things I want to point out, I wanted to give Izzie no last name but has my heart some love and so I wrote a bit of her backstory with her mom. I don't think I'm going to elaborate much on that. 
> 
> POSIE FINALLY texting. finally!! tbh i kinda got lost in how many character arcs I wanted to focus on so I might end a few storylines within the next chapter. 
> 
> ALSO SIDENOTE, HAVE Y'ALL WATCHED UTOPIA FALLS? brooo. i love thattttt show so much. stream it on hulu for some good rep. 
> 
> but as always, your feedback is what keeps me going. 
> 
> hope you all are staying safe and home during this time (for all my essential workers, we thank you for your service). 
> 
> much love for each and everyone of you! :)

**Author's Note:**

> look at me writing more fics instead of finishing the two that i have up right now (which i will finish hopefully soon idk) 
> 
> but can we talk about atypical s3 and HOW AMAZINGLY fleshed out it was? like yes, there were some moments but the rep was amazing, the storyline amazing, the growth and development AMAZING. 
> 
> side note, this shouldn't be too long. i made izzie and penelope cousins so izzie is techincally izzie park but @ atypical writers, PLS GIVE MY HOMEGIRL A LAST NAME. 
> 
> okay yeah, hopefully this won't be long and that i can actually finish it hehe. see u on the flip side friends 
> 
> as always comments & kudos are much appreciated!! LMK HOW U FEEL. u hate it? u love it? u got input? my comment section is open jus for u


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